Day 4 Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios
The original plan for today was to wake up and head over to Aquatica for a couple of hours followed by Bahama Breeze for lunch then come back and do Universal Studios, however I woke up in the morning with a really bad cold
and made the decision that a water park might not have been in my best interests so I stocked up on pills and headed over to Islands of Adventure instead.
We made it into the park after picking up the flex tickets from the box office and headed straight into the Christmas shop to have a quick look around as we wanted to add to the collection we had started the previous year, however the decorations we bought were no longer available
so with crushed spirits we left the shop. We werent that bothered about rushing around IOA because of the FOTL access with the room keys but it didnt really matter as the park was dead, pretty much every single ride was a walk on at the time we were there. I never thought Id say this but I really wanted the park to be busy so we felt like we were getting some benefit out of the room key, we still used them on every ride but in IOA that day it would have only saved us about 20-30 mins as the queues were non-existent. It was still nice however to just be able to take it at a slower pace knowing that if the park did get busy it wouldnt really affect us, it was also nice knowing Lucy could go on the rollercoasters and I wouldnt be waiting long at all.
Lucy did the hulk first then we did Spiderman a couple of times (still my favourite ride
) where Lucy got a t-shirt from the gift shop and had it delivered to the room (which is the first time we were ever able to do that 
) then off to do Jurassic park (by-passing toon lagoon and the water rides as I didnt fancy getting soaked and soggy with my cold), Lucy rode the river adventure (I still bottled it, one day I will go on) and then she did duelling dragons after we finally found the relocated entrance. Then off to do the trolley ride, cara-seuss-el and cat in the hat before walking back to get a bite to eat in mythos. This is only the second time weve ate there (the first being last year) and I can see why it is voted the best theme park restaurant as the meal was phenomenal again, I had the mythos burger and Lucy went for the pork dish I do believe (see what I told you about my memory I really wish Id taken the camera with us that day as pictures do help)
After eating we foolishly did storm force a couple of times then headed out of the park and over to universal. The benefit of getting to universal at lunch time is that all the rides are fully up and running at this point and we didnt have to worry about queues, but yet again most rides were a walk on, the longest wait time I saw was for the Simpsons which was around 20 mins. I would like to point out that universal has always been my favourite park, I love most of the rides and shows and just the theme of the place in general, it was the main reason I wanted to go to orlando in the first place back in the day. We skipped terminator because wed just missed a show and went and did ET first followed by the Simpsons (which is brilliant), then Men in Black (where after 3 years I finally managed to beat Lucys score), then jaws, we skipped disaster, Lucy did the mummy, we skipped twister and did Shrek 4D then Jimmy Neutron. All of which took us only a couple of hours so we headed back to the hotel to get showered and changed before heading out to meet our friends again.
Wed decided on NBA City for dinner as Id read some good reviews and the menu seemed pretty decent. The food was nice, Lucy had the steak (are you starting to see a pattern here) and I had the pepperoni pizza but the service was the worst of the trip by a long shot, the server just did not seem to be interested in the slightest so we finished up quickly and left. The plan for the evening had also included a trip to the Rising Star karaoke bar as this was one of the nights they had the live band on, we got there at around 8:30 and the band was meant to start at 9, the only problem with getting there at the beginning of the night is that hardly anyone else was in the place and no one wanted to get up to sing. However after a couple of songs by the backing singers more people had started to arrive and the volunteers were getting up on stage
. Im not normally a karaoke fan in the slightest and the difference in this place from the nights where the band is playing to the nights when its just a normal karaoke bar is like night and day, the atmosphere had really started to pick up by 9:30 and we had a really good night.
Yet again we didnt take the camera with us today so here are a few more random shots
The walk to citywalk
<a href="http://s669.photobucket.com/albums/vv60/dtm316/Florida%202009/?action=view¤t=P1020590.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv60/dtm316/Florida%202009/P1020590.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Outside Universal
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Universal at night
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Playing pool at the hotel
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Tomorrow will be a trip to sea world
The original plan for today was to wake up and head over to Aquatica for a couple of hours followed by Bahama Breeze for lunch then come back and do Universal Studios, however I woke up in the morning with a really bad cold
and made the decision that a water park might not have been in my best interests so I stocked up on pills and headed over to Islands of Adventure instead.We made it into the park after picking up the flex tickets from the box office and headed straight into the Christmas shop to have a quick look around as we wanted to add to the collection we had started the previous year, however the decorations we bought were no longer available
so with crushed spirits we left the shop. We werent that bothered about rushing around IOA because of the FOTL access with the room keys but it didnt really matter as the park was dead, pretty much every single ride was a walk on at the time we were there. I never thought Id say this but I really wanted the park to be busy so we felt like we were getting some benefit out of the room key, we still used them on every ride but in IOA that day it would have only saved us about 20-30 mins as the queues were non-existent. It was still nice however to just be able to take it at a slower pace knowing that if the park did get busy it wouldnt really affect us, it was also nice knowing Lucy could go on the rollercoasters and I wouldnt be waiting long at all.Lucy did the hulk first then we did Spiderman a couple of times (still my favourite ride
) where Lucy got a t-shirt from the gift shop and had it delivered to the room (which is the first time we were ever able to do that ) then off to do Jurassic park (by-passing toon lagoon and the water rides as I didnt fancy getting soaked and soggy with my cold), Lucy rode the river adventure (I still bottled it, one day I will go on) and then she did duelling dragons after we finally found the relocated entrance. Then off to do the trolley ride, cara-seuss-el and cat in the hat before walking back to get a bite to eat in mythos. This is only the second time weve ate there (the first being last year) and I can see why it is voted the best theme park restaurant as the meal was phenomenal again, I had the mythos burger and Lucy went for the pork dish I do believe (see what I told you about my memory I really wish Id taken the camera with us that day as pictures do help)After eating we foolishly did storm force a couple of times then headed out of the park and over to universal. The benefit of getting to universal at lunch time is that all the rides are fully up and running at this point and we didnt have to worry about queues, but yet again most rides were a walk on, the longest wait time I saw was for the Simpsons which was around 20 mins. I would like to point out that universal has always been my favourite park, I love most of the rides and shows and just the theme of the place in general, it was the main reason I wanted to go to orlando in the first place back in the day. We skipped terminator because wed just missed a show and went and did ET first followed by the Simpsons (which is brilliant), then Men in Black (where after 3 years I finally managed to beat Lucys score), then jaws, we skipped disaster, Lucy did the mummy, we skipped twister and did Shrek 4D then Jimmy Neutron. All of which took us only a couple of hours so we headed back to the hotel to get showered and changed before heading out to meet our friends again.
Wed decided on NBA City for dinner as Id read some good reviews and the menu seemed pretty decent. The food was nice, Lucy had the steak (are you starting to see a pattern here) and I had the pepperoni pizza but the service was the worst of the trip by a long shot, the server just did not seem to be interested in the slightest so we finished up quickly and left. The plan for the evening had also included a trip to the Rising Star karaoke bar as this was one of the nights they had the live band on, we got there at around 8:30 and the band was meant to start at 9, the only problem with getting there at the beginning of the night is that hardly anyone else was in the place and no one wanted to get up to sing. However after a couple of songs by the backing singers more people had started to arrive and the volunteers were getting up on stage
. Im not normally a karaoke fan in the slightest and the difference in this place from the nights where the band is playing to the nights when its just a normal karaoke bar is like night and day, the atmosphere had really started to pick up by 9:30 and we had a really good night.Yet again we didnt take the camera with us today so here are a few more random shots
The walk to citywalk
<a href="http://s669.photobucket.com/albums/vv60/dtm316/Florida%202009/?action=view¤t=P1020590.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv60/dtm316/Florida%202009/P1020590.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Outside Universal
<a href="http://s669.photobucket.com/albums/vv60/dtm316/Florida%202009/?action=view¤t=P1020599.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv60/dtm316/Florida%202009/P1020599.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Universal at night
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Playing pool at the hotel
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Tomorrow will be a trip to sea world
May have to try Mythos this year 
.
