Bastilleman21
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2010
- Messages
- 10
Just let me start by saying that ALL your suggestions and words of advice given here regarding how to tackle US/IOA successfully helped our week become one of the most memorable amusement park vacations we've ever taken. Thanks to all. With that... here's my recount of the Clan Alvarado 7-Day Vacation to UNIVERSAL Orlando.
Clan members include - Myself(44), DD - Jacquelyn(20), DN - Robby(13), DGD -Jillian(10)
Day - 1
We started out on-time, non-memorable flight from DFW to MCO, arriving at 10:20(AM). For Jillian, this was her first time flying and loved it! Our flight arrived at MCO 20 minutes ahead of schedule, which was great b/c it enabled us to catch an earlier LYNX bus than I had originally planned. So we actually arrived to the I-Drive area and to the hotel(Homewood Suites) 30 minutes ahead of schedule. After checking in, we trotted a whole two blocks over to KFC for a quick lunch, followed by the Walgreens next door for room supplies(bottled water, snacks, toiletries, etc.). Once we dropped our supplies off, it was off to the I-Drive Trolley stop #7(GREEN line). We waited no more than 5 minutes for the trolley, which then dropped us off at Major Blvd/Kirkman Rd(stop #4). A short walk from there, and we find oursleves staring at a sea of people shuffling in every direction down this long, narrow area called CITYWALK. We were awe-struck at the sight in front of us. I looked at my DD, and she at me, each of us with total excitement in our eyes. We couldn't believe we were really here at UNIVERSAL. With that said, and digital camera in her hand and video recorder in mine, we proceeded onward through the crowd to begin our conquest on this thing they call "ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE".
The walk to IOA was beautiful. All of us are pointing at all the different stuff along the way - Hard Rock Cafe, NASCAR Cafe, NBA City, Emeril's, Jimmy Buffet's, some big sea plane in the lagoon, the UNIVERSAL ball, the IOA lighthouse, etc. Endless photo ops EVERYWHERE!! I was super impressed over it all, especially the convienence of everything. So, after grabbing our pre-paid passes at the self-service kiosk, we officially passed through the gates, but not before getting finger-printed. Nice little procedure UNIVERSAL has in place for ID reasons. So here we are - Port of Entry. We're stunned over the endless sights!! For me, it was Universal's incredible attention to detail everywhere I looked. And it only got better as the week went on. After making our way through POE, we end up at the lake that is the centerpoint of IOA. It's a spectacular and panaramic view of the whole park. Starting from the far left, where the Hulk coaster towers over a part of the lake with its roaring, thunderous sounds, you pan to the right onto the Olive Oyl ship in TOON Land. Next, you're looking directly across the lake to the Jurassic Park visitor's center and just to the right of that, you can see a multitude of steeples which sit atop HOGWARTS, School of Wizardry. Continue to the right and there's the mountain formation and running waterfall above the Mythos restaurant. Finally, to our farthest right side sits the gateway to SuessLand. What a view!!
So, as for DAY 1, my plan was to get acclimated to the park, sneak in a few rides, try not to waste large amounts of time in line, and to make our way to HARRY POTTER land to get a feel of how it was going to be. Now to give you an idea of what we were dealing with on DAY 1, it was about 1:30-2PM on Tuesday and there were ALOT of people, but not so much that you were having to fight through to get by. And it was toasty, 90's and sticky, but partly cloudy, which was a good thing.
Now, knowing that by going right through SuessLand gets us to HOGWARTS quicker, we officially started the day with Dr. Suess and we made our inaugural ride at Universal, the CAT IN THE HAT. Wait time 45 minutes, we're in and out in 25. YES!! It was a joy. Reminded me of Winnie-the-Pooh at WDW. We checked out all the other sights in SuessLand as well. My DD was thrilled to see the Green Eggs and Ham eatery, only to be let down by the fact that they didn't actually serve either item! For shame - that's false advertising. Afterwards, we moved on to the LOST CONTINENT and Posiedon's Fury. It was cheesy as I had read, but still a must for the 1st timer. Again, the amazing attention to detail given was mesmerizing, especially for this attraction. Huge remnants of a land forgotten in time. Ancient temples, broken pieces of old statues, the tip of Poseidon's trident towering over you. This was SUPER cool. Sights like this would be one of the many highlights of the trip. The mountain design and waterfall above the Mythos restaurant was another. Wait time for the Fury was 60 mins, in and out in 30. Also an ongoing trend. Next was a short walk to the entrance to the town of Hogmead, but that's as far as we made it. HP Land was filled to capacity, no entrance. No biggie since we had already planned Day-3 as our official HP day, we moved on with the rest of IOA and our next stop - JURASSIC PARK.
This section continued to amaze us with all the detailing and effort in making every visitor feel as if they really were visiting Dr. Hammond's fictional dinosaur park. All through your walk in this section you hear the original music from the movie, as well as grunts and growls within the tropical vegetation that line the walkways, you see the large electified dino-fences, just as in the movie, with an occasional T-REX poking his head out of the bushes for excellent photo ops. We hit the RIVER ADVENTURE ride - 60 min wait, in and out in 40. We're getting super-spoiled. This ride became one of our personal favorites, except for Jillian, DGD. Now she's as brave as any 10-yr old will come, but with all the dino-chaos and the climactic ending thrown at you on the River ride, this proved to be too much for the little one. She never stepped into another boat after that and she was so excited about this ride. Hilarious.
We continued onto TOON land, intending to only survey the rides, so we thought. Both rides here are water rides and CLEARLY post the following message -"You Will Get Wet". And this being Day 1, we had no intentions of getting wet, but the urge to ride proved too much to resist, especially for me. Growing up a fan of the Bullwinkle-Super Chicken-Dudley Do-Right cartoons, I insisted we all do the Rip Falls ride. Lots of fun, but WE DID GET SOAKED. Afterwards, we made our way to what would end up being the section with the most to do - MARVEL SUPER HERO, my IOA personal favorite. This is my thing, comic book superheros that I grew up with. We did Spider-man(AWESOME), Storm Acceleration, kids did Doom Drop, and older two did the HULK coaster multiple times. Posted times were mostly 30 minutes or less, again with in/out times being half that. For those unclear of what I mean by these "wait" times, all rides have a digital display at the entrance to each ride. These displays show what "they" believe would be the time spent in line in order to ride that particular attraction at that moment. Rarely, I mean rarely, did we actually wait near the time posted. Most of the time it was closer to half or two-thirds of the wait time. Also offered, is the SINGLE RIDER option, which proved to be personal favorites of my DD and DN. They cared more about riding than riding together, and so they got through even quicker. Being at Marvel Land means we circled the entire IOA and with that, we were able to just about experience every ride offered, and in only seven hours!! We finshed the evening back in SuessLand - the Sneeches train ride through Circus McGircus and the Carousel.
By 10 PM, we're pooped and hungry, so we headed out of IOA, back through Citywalk, which was now all lit up, lively and brilliant. More video, more pics before our short walk back to GREEN trolley stop #4 to catch the 10:30 back to I-Drive. By 11PM, we're back at the hotel room, waiting for Papa Johns to deliver our late dinner(BTW - Pizza Hut on I-Drive doesn't deliver - what's up w/ that???). Oh well. We ended a GREAT day totally exhausted, but happy. Day-2 is STUDIO day, so get to bed!! (if I had a buck for every time I had to say that during this vacation....)
Clan members include - Myself(44), DD - Jacquelyn(20), DN - Robby(13), DGD -Jillian(10)
Day - 1
We started out on-time, non-memorable flight from DFW to MCO, arriving at 10:20(AM). For Jillian, this was her first time flying and loved it! Our flight arrived at MCO 20 minutes ahead of schedule, which was great b/c it enabled us to catch an earlier LYNX bus than I had originally planned. So we actually arrived to the I-Drive area and to the hotel(Homewood Suites) 30 minutes ahead of schedule. After checking in, we trotted a whole two blocks over to KFC for a quick lunch, followed by the Walgreens next door for room supplies(bottled water, snacks, toiletries, etc.). Once we dropped our supplies off, it was off to the I-Drive Trolley stop #7(GREEN line). We waited no more than 5 minutes for the trolley, which then dropped us off at Major Blvd/Kirkman Rd(stop #4). A short walk from there, and we find oursleves staring at a sea of people shuffling in every direction down this long, narrow area called CITYWALK. We were awe-struck at the sight in front of us. I looked at my DD, and she at me, each of us with total excitement in our eyes. We couldn't believe we were really here at UNIVERSAL. With that said, and digital camera in her hand and video recorder in mine, we proceeded onward through the crowd to begin our conquest on this thing they call "ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE".
The walk to IOA was beautiful. All of us are pointing at all the different stuff along the way - Hard Rock Cafe, NASCAR Cafe, NBA City, Emeril's, Jimmy Buffet's, some big sea plane in the lagoon, the UNIVERSAL ball, the IOA lighthouse, etc. Endless photo ops EVERYWHERE!! I was super impressed over it all, especially the convienence of everything. So, after grabbing our pre-paid passes at the self-service kiosk, we officially passed through the gates, but not before getting finger-printed. Nice little procedure UNIVERSAL has in place for ID reasons. So here we are - Port of Entry. We're stunned over the endless sights!! For me, it was Universal's incredible attention to detail everywhere I looked. And it only got better as the week went on. After making our way through POE, we end up at the lake that is the centerpoint of IOA. It's a spectacular and panaramic view of the whole park. Starting from the far left, where the Hulk coaster towers over a part of the lake with its roaring, thunderous sounds, you pan to the right onto the Olive Oyl ship in TOON Land. Next, you're looking directly across the lake to the Jurassic Park visitor's center and just to the right of that, you can see a multitude of steeples which sit atop HOGWARTS, School of Wizardry. Continue to the right and there's the mountain formation and running waterfall above the Mythos restaurant. Finally, to our farthest right side sits the gateway to SuessLand. What a view!!
So, as for DAY 1, my plan was to get acclimated to the park, sneak in a few rides, try not to waste large amounts of time in line, and to make our way to HARRY POTTER land to get a feel of how it was going to be. Now to give you an idea of what we were dealing with on DAY 1, it was about 1:30-2PM on Tuesday and there were ALOT of people, but not so much that you were having to fight through to get by. And it was toasty, 90's and sticky, but partly cloudy, which was a good thing.
Now, knowing that by going right through SuessLand gets us to HOGWARTS quicker, we officially started the day with Dr. Suess and we made our inaugural ride at Universal, the CAT IN THE HAT. Wait time 45 minutes, we're in and out in 25. YES!! It was a joy. Reminded me of Winnie-the-Pooh at WDW. We checked out all the other sights in SuessLand as well. My DD was thrilled to see the Green Eggs and Ham eatery, only to be let down by the fact that they didn't actually serve either item! For shame - that's false advertising. Afterwards, we moved on to the LOST CONTINENT and Posiedon's Fury. It was cheesy as I had read, but still a must for the 1st timer. Again, the amazing attention to detail given was mesmerizing, especially for this attraction. Huge remnants of a land forgotten in time. Ancient temples, broken pieces of old statues, the tip of Poseidon's trident towering over you. This was SUPER cool. Sights like this would be one of the many highlights of the trip. The mountain design and waterfall above the Mythos restaurant was another. Wait time for the Fury was 60 mins, in and out in 30. Also an ongoing trend. Next was a short walk to the entrance to the town of Hogmead, but that's as far as we made it. HP Land was filled to capacity, no entrance. No biggie since we had already planned Day-3 as our official HP day, we moved on with the rest of IOA and our next stop - JURASSIC PARK.
This section continued to amaze us with all the detailing and effort in making every visitor feel as if they really were visiting Dr. Hammond's fictional dinosaur park. All through your walk in this section you hear the original music from the movie, as well as grunts and growls within the tropical vegetation that line the walkways, you see the large electified dino-fences, just as in the movie, with an occasional T-REX poking his head out of the bushes for excellent photo ops. We hit the RIVER ADVENTURE ride - 60 min wait, in and out in 40. We're getting super-spoiled. This ride became one of our personal favorites, except for Jillian, DGD. Now she's as brave as any 10-yr old will come, but with all the dino-chaos and the climactic ending thrown at you on the River ride, this proved to be too much for the little one. She never stepped into another boat after that and she was so excited about this ride. Hilarious.
We continued onto TOON land, intending to only survey the rides, so we thought. Both rides here are water rides and CLEARLY post the following message -"You Will Get Wet". And this being Day 1, we had no intentions of getting wet, but the urge to ride proved too much to resist, especially for me. Growing up a fan of the Bullwinkle-Super Chicken-Dudley Do-Right cartoons, I insisted we all do the Rip Falls ride. Lots of fun, but WE DID GET SOAKED. Afterwards, we made our way to what would end up being the section with the most to do - MARVEL SUPER HERO, my IOA personal favorite. This is my thing, comic book superheros that I grew up with. We did Spider-man(AWESOME), Storm Acceleration, kids did Doom Drop, and older two did the HULK coaster multiple times. Posted times were mostly 30 minutes or less, again with in/out times being half that. For those unclear of what I mean by these "wait" times, all rides have a digital display at the entrance to each ride. These displays show what "they" believe would be the time spent in line in order to ride that particular attraction at that moment. Rarely, I mean rarely, did we actually wait near the time posted. Most of the time it was closer to half or two-thirds of the wait time. Also offered, is the SINGLE RIDER option, which proved to be personal favorites of my DD and DN. They cared more about riding than riding together, and so they got through even quicker. Being at Marvel Land means we circled the entire IOA and with that, we were able to just about experience every ride offered, and in only seven hours!! We finshed the evening back in SuessLand - the Sneeches train ride through Circus McGircus and the Carousel.
By 10 PM, we're pooped and hungry, so we headed out of IOA, back through Citywalk, which was now all lit up, lively and brilliant. More video, more pics before our short walk back to GREEN trolley stop #4 to catch the 10:30 back to I-Drive. By 11PM, we're back at the hotel room, waiting for Papa Johns to deliver our late dinner(BTW - Pizza Hut on I-Drive doesn't deliver - what's up w/ that???). Oh well. We ended a GREAT day totally exhausted, but happy. Day-2 is STUDIO day, so get to bed!! (if I had a buck for every time I had to say that during this vacation....)
