Bastilleman21
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2010
- Messages
- 10
Wednesday starts out with a very nice early b'fast, courtesy of our hosts at Hilton. It also included a harsh lesson in doing Universal. As with many other hotels in the area, courtesy transportation to the US/IOA is advertised, but what is not mentioned is what needs to be done in order to take advantage of this free ride. Every morning(7:30AM), a person enters a small kiosk within our hotel lobby. Their function is to answer park questions, sell tickets and sign up visitors for the scheduled bus rides to the parks, on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. No ticket, no ride. Needless to say, I was unable to get us on the morning shuttle as I had planned b/c they were already sold out. Our shuttle, which was Shuttle "A", also serviced four(4) other hotels, each with an identical US/IOA kiosk doing the same thing as ours. Quickly learning how the "system" works, I booked seats for Thursday, and subsequently continued to book a day in advance every morning throughout the rest of the trip. Problem solved, however for Day 2, the kiddos and I had to grab another I-Drive trolley, just as we did on Tuesday. We take another short walk to I-Drive just in time to catch our trolley waiting on us - SWEET!
We make it to US/IOA in no time, we trot through Citywalk with the rest of the "early birds", and there's a bunch! But guess what? They're all headed to the left towards IOA, and we're headed to the right, towards US. I like what I'm seeing. We get through the gates of US just as they're opening and just as we had anticipated, Main Street is a total amazement. What's more amazing is that there's literally no one around us! WE OWN THE PARK!!
We start out with Shrek 4-D and it was HILARIOUS! Wait time for Shrek - 5 minutes! No joke. I don't know what the official term for it is, but I will call it the prepatory room for these type of rides offered at US. These rides are movie themed, either motion simulation, sit down 3-D, or tame coaster car type rides, each having an "area" prior to actually boarding the ride itself. These areas get you up to speed on the situation that you're about to deal with, depending on the ride. For the Shrek ride, I laughed my butt off during the prep. Great way to start off a day at US. Next was the new and very popular Hollywood RipRide Rocket(HRRR). However, it wasnt yet taking on riders. No worries b/c across the courtyard stood TWISTER(another 5 minute wait time). Cheesy like Poseidon's Fury, but still a MUST for the first timer. The preparation was too talky IMO, but special effects were cool.
Next in line is what became one of THE rides of the whole trip - The MUMMY'S REVENGE. Oh man! What a ride! Let me beat my dead horse again by saying how impressed I was with UNIVERSAL''s attention to detail. When you enter the line for the Mummy ride, you follow the queue into excavated tunnels of an ancient Egyptian tomb with hieroglyphics all over the place. The queue continues into a second chamber where uncovered treasures are present, including a HUGE statue of an Egyptian god(the ones with the head of a dog) in the middle of being hoisted up. So real and authentic. You really feel as if youre in a dig site. Eventually, you're loaded in the "car" and off you go into a wild ride through various interactive scenes from the Mummy movies. My DGD was geared up for this ride also, until after riding it. She had to put this ride in the same pile as she did with the Jurassic River ride. One and done.
As we continued on, we found ourselves in the nostalgic streets of NYC, Chi-town, and San Francisco. Afterwards, we entered the quaint little town of Amity, which meant one thing - JAWS! - another great experience. Great photo ops all along the way, especially in Amity b/c in the town courtyard is a captured shark hoisted up high for all to pose by, just as in the original movie. The M.I.B. ride was up next and quickly became another favorite for the kiddos b/c of the competition factor. Mine as well. We lost count how many times we rode. The prep room and queue for M.I.B. was one of my favorites b/c of how so many of the elements of the movie were included throughout your walk to the ride vehicle - secret elevator to M.I.B. headquarters, the breakroom(worms drinking coffee included), M.I.B. central(twin alien secretaries included), and weapons room. We loved it. The Simpson's ride was next with a wait time of 30 minutes. A sit-down motion ride using IMAX type projection. Kiddos loved it, as did I, but I actually enjoyed being in line as much, b/c you get to watch special Simpsons cartoons that were related to the ride's storyline and they were ABSOLUTELY hilarious! The bonus for this was right next to the ride stood an actual "QUIK E MART". In reality, it was the gift shop. Also present was a Squishee stand selling you know what. Again, the details!!! Afterwards, we cross back across the lake and head to the Beetlejuice show(hilarious, and a must-see). My DD and I laughed and cheered more than the other two b/c this movie is an old favorite of ours.
By now its around 2-3PM, so we start on a small stroll towards E.T., but before we get there, we see a small crowd forming in a semi-uniformed line for character greetings. This is our first REAL encounter, so we jump in. Five minutes later, the cast from Madagascar arrive in a grand entrance aboard a SUV pulling a flatbed! After some pics with the penquins, we continue on to E.T., an understood classic and I totally see why. For me, it was UNIVERSALs equivalent to "It's a Small World" at WDW. We followed that up with quick look-sees at Feivel's Land, Curious George, Woody Wookpecker. All these are geared for the younger kiddos. But then came the highlight of the day for my DD - The Barney Show. She may be a 20 yrs old, third-year college student, but she'll forever be a part of the Barney nation. For her, it was like being able to finally meet a long time idol. Dad had to shed a tear or two. What a moment.
Dinnertime we leave the park, head out to CityWalk and to the upstairs food court with Moes, Panda, and BK. Wonderful dinner, and prices to boot, at Moes chicken taco salad, oversized burritos, quesadillas YUM!!. We lounge awhile to re-charge our batteries and before you can say UNIVERSAL, back we go.
For the rest of day, the crowds continued to be incredibly tolerable. We hit T2, back to the Mummy, another Shrek. We then finally get on the crème de la crème at US, HRRR. All I can say is W-O-W!! For me, the highlight of this ride was the after part, when you go see the video. HRRR has a wonderful feature where you are videoed while riding this coaster. A small camera is placed on the back of the seat in front of you and this camera tapes your experience. WHAT A FEATURE! So, afterwards, my DD, DN and myself go to check out the video from our first encounter. DD and DN are riding together and their expressions on their faces that were captured were PRICELESS. Fear of the unknown was painted on their faces as this coaster starts its initial climb STRAIGHT UP! Even my DD, the thrillseeker herself, at age 20, had a serious moment of doubt on this ride. It was hilarious. To this day, I regret not buying a copy of their video to share with family/friends. Afterwards, we get in more M.I.B., more Simpsons, the Lucy Tribute, which was super nice, since I grew up watching old re-runs of I Love Lucy. Nine oclock quickly approaches and time to trot over to where the shuttle pick-up for our hotel is we didnt use it to arrive this morning, but we sure are using it to get back(no ticket required for returns). It was another exhausting day, but I cant believe we totally knocked out the whole park. Crowds were great, rides were even better but how much longer well our luck keep up??
We make it to US/IOA in no time, we trot through Citywalk with the rest of the "early birds", and there's a bunch! But guess what? They're all headed to the left towards IOA, and we're headed to the right, towards US. I like what I'm seeing. We get through the gates of US just as they're opening and just as we had anticipated, Main Street is a total amazement. What's more amazing is that there's literally no one around us! WE OWN THE PARK!!
We start out with Shrek 4-D and it was HILARIOUS! Wait time for Shrek - 5 minutes! No joke. I don't know what the official term for it is, but I will call it the prepatory room for these type of rides offered at US. These rides are movie themed, either motion simulation, sit down 3-D, or tame coaster car type rides, each having an "area" prior to actually boarding the ride itself. These areas get you up to speed on the situation that you're about to deal with, depending on the ride. For the Shrek ride, I laughed my butt off during the prep. Great way to start off a day at US. Next was the new and very popular Hollywood RipRide Rocket(HRRR). However, it wasnt yet taking on riders. No worries b/c across the courtyard stood TWISTER(another 5 minute wait time). Cheesy like Poseidon's Fury, but still a MUST for the first timer. The preparation was too talky IMO, but special effects were cool.
Next in line is what became one of THE rides of the whole trip - The MUMMY'S REVENGE. Oh man! What a ride! Let me beat my dead horse again by saying how impressed I was with UNIVERSAL''s attention to detail. When you enter the line for the Mummy ride, you follow the queue into excavated tunnels of an ancient Egyptian tomb with hieroglyphics all over the place. The queue continues into a second chamber where uncovered treasures are present, including a HUGE statue of an Egyptian god(the ones with the head of a dog) in the middle of being hoisted up. So real and authentic. You really feel as if youre in a dig site. Eventually, you're loaded in the "car" and off you go into a wild ride through various interactive scenes from the Mummy movies. My DGD was geared up for this ride also, until after riding it. She had to put this ride in the same pile as she did with the Jurassic River ride. One and done.
As we continued on, we found ourselves in the nostalgic streets of NYC, Chi-town, and San Francisco. Afterwards, we entered the quaint little town of Amity, which meant one thing - JAWS! - another great experience. Great photo ops all along the way, especially in Amity b/c in the town courtyard is a captured shark hoisted up high for all to pose by, just as in the original movie. The M.I.B. ride was up next and quickly became another favorite for the kiddos b/c of the competition factor. Mine as well. We lost count how many times we rode. The prep room and queue for M.I.B. was one of my favorites b/c of how so many of the elements of the movie were included throughout your walk to the ride vehicle - secret elevator to M.I.B. headquarters, the breakroom(worms drinking coffee included), M.I.B. central(twin alien secretaries included), and weapons room. We loved it. The Simpson's ride was next with a wait time of 30 minutes. A sit-down motion ride using IMAX type projection. Kiddos loved it, as did I, but I actually enjoyed being in line as much, b/c you get to watch special Simpsons cartoons that were related to the ride's storyline and they were ABSOLUTELY hilarious! The bonus for this was right next to the ride stood an actual "QUIK E MART". In reality, it was the gift shop. Also present was a Squishee stand selling you know what. Again, the details!!! Afterwards, we cross back across the lake and head to the Beetlejuice show(hilarious, and a must-see). My DD and I laughed and cheered more than the other two b/c this movie is an old favorite of ours.
By now its around 2-3PM, so we start on a small stroll towards E.T., but before we get there, we see a small crowd forming in a semi-uniformed line for character greetings. This is our first REAL encounter, so we jump in. Five minutes later, the cast from Madagascar arrive in a grand entrance aboard a SUV pulling a flatbed! After some pics with the penquins, we continue on to E.T., an understood classic and I totally see why. For me, it was UNIVERSALs equivalent to "It's a Small World" at WDW. We followed that up with quick look-sees at Feivel's Land, Curious George, Woody Wookpecker. All these are geared for the younger kiddos. But then came the highlight of the day for my DD - The Barney Show. She may be a 20 yrs old, third-year college student, but she'll forever be a part of the Barney nation. For her, it was like being able to finally meet a long time idol. Dad had to shed a tear or two. What a moment.
Dinnertime we leave the park, head out to CityWalk and to the upstairs food court with Moes, Panda, and BK. Wonderful dinner, and prices to boot, at Moes chicken taco salad, oversized burritos, quesadillas YUM!!. We lounge awhile to re-charge our batteries and before you can say UNIVERSAL, back we go.
For the rest of day, the crowds continued to be incredibly tolerable. We hit T2, back to the Mummy, another Shrek. We then finally get on the crème de la crème at US, HRRR. All I can say is W-O-W!! For me, the highlight of this ride was the after part, when you go see the video. HRRR has a wonderful feature where you are videoed while riding this coaster. A small camera is placed on the back of the seat in front of you and this camera tapes your experience. WHAT A FEATURE! So, afterwards, my DD, DN and myself go to check out the video from our first encounter. DD and DN are riding together and their expressions on their faces that were captured were PRICELESS. Fear of the unknown was painted on their faces as this coaster starts its initial climb STRAIGHT UP! Even my DD, the thrillseeker herself, at age 20, had a serious moment of doubt on this ride. It was hilarious. To this day, I regret not buying a copy of their video to share with family/friends. Afterwards, we get in more M.I.B., more Simpsons, the Lucy Tribute, which was super nice, since I grew up watching old re-runs of I Love Lucy. Nine oclock quickly approaches and time to trot over to where the shuttle pick-up for our hotel is we didnt use it to arrive this morning, but we sure are using it to get back(no ticket required for returns). It was another exhausting day, but I cant believe we totally knocked out the whole park. Crowds were great, rides were even better but how much longer well our luck keep up??
