How 2 Big Kids Conquered 'The World' In 6 Days - UPDATED Aug 11 - Conclusion

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Lady Building right? I love POP! Can't wait for more trippie.

Yes Lady Building

... more TR coming soon.

 

[disneymoon_0307]

So far I'm lovin' it. I love all the pictures. Can't wait to here more.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Yes folks we said Universal Studios…get over it!

After about 5 hours of sleep, we received our 8:00 am wake up call. When the phone rang we put it on speaker to hear Stitch but it was just a dead line…oh well at least we were awake. About an hour later, we were out the door and on our way with our cameras and Baggalini in hand (note the orange Mickey head…beware the POPs). We arrived at Universal, parked and walked to the ticket booth to pick up our Annual Passes.

Our first stop was Shrek 4D. We both absolutely love that one…probably more than any adult should. There was hardly any line (maybe about ½ dozen people) so we were going to get into the next show which was great. There was a group of 4 with a stroller that absolutely had to get in line ahead of us for some reason and they almost mowed us down with the stroller. Sure enough within 2 minutes they were complaining about having to wait for the next show and decided to leave. We both got a chuckle wondering how long their day was going to last if 2 minutes was too long to wait for anything.

Actually we were both amazed at how short the ride times were this time of year…nothing over 30 minutes!!

After Shrek we decided to just take a leisurely stroll around the park. The first thing we noticed was that the huge rotating Frankenstein, Wolfman, and Creature statues on top of the Monsters Café had been repainted since our October trip. As a huge fan of the classic monsters, Lee was absolutely thrilled by this as he had noticed they were really getting faded when we were last there. If you ever wonder what our rec room looks like, take a walk through the Monsters Café. We have the whole room covered with pictures, movie posters, memorabilia, and autographs from Universal’s classic monster movies. We even have a pair of Boris Karloff’s old cufflinks.

We decided to pass on Twister and Earthquake this time though we usually do those ones. Lee has an inner ear issue that keeps him off of almost all thrill rides. Since we had read the Mummy wasn’t too bad we decided to give it a shot on our 2005 trip. Afterwards, Lee was staggering around like Captain Jack for close to an hour…just not worth it.

We then headed over to Jaws. It was great since we both love it but whenever we go in October there’s always at least a 30 minute wait. This time it was only about 5.

One of the rides neither of us had done in our many trips to Universal was ET so we decided to give it a try. It was quite good actually and we really enjoyed it. We both found it reminded us of Disney’s Peter Pan ride only this one was kicked up a notch. I think we’ll definitely be doing it again in the future.

We also took a stroll by the old Back to the Future ride to see if there were any signs up for the new Simpsons ride. They just had the standard construction signs…nothing Simpsons related yet. It also looked odd with the Delorean gone. Of course the gift shop was still open and full of BTTF crap…I mean merchandise. Actually this is one ride we aren’t going to miss at all…we went on it during our first trip to Universal and got seated in the back row of the simulator. While we both loved the BTTF movies and thought the ride movie was cool, with the shaking it kept smacking our heads against the back wall through the entire ride. Essentially it was like watching a cool movie while repeatedly being smacked across the back of the head with a 2x4. After it was over Bonny had such a bad headache from it we had to leave the park.

Since the Disboards have rules about the number of pics we can include in an individual post, rather than cut out some of the pics we want to share with you we’ll just cut this part off at this point and carry on in the next installment…

 

[JawsCPA]

Read your pre-trip report. Loved the trivia questions - did you ever tell us the answer to the Florida Keys building?

Lovin' your trip report, especially all the pictures. Keep them coming.

 

[burly]

my sister and i are doing Universal first too. can't wait to read more. Love all the pictures.

 

[DreaGirl]

I'm in!

How was the baggalinni? Is it worth the purchase?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

did you ever tell us the answer to the Florida Keys building?

D'oh!

I knew we forgot something...the old Strand on Duval St (now a Walgreens) was used for the exterior shots in Matinee

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I'm in!

How was the baggalinni? Is it worth the purchase?

Welcome aboard!! The baggalini is great...it's comfortable to carry and holds quite a bit. The only downside is it takes a bit of extra time at the security checkpoints at the parks when I have to unzip all the pockets. It was definitely well worth the purchase.

 

[wdwgirl03]

haha Oh boy, this reminds me of when I was at Universal Studios Hollywood. They have Jaws as part of the backlot tour, and I just remember screaming when it popped out of the water. LOL.

Excellent photos!

 

[coolbeans]

I'm in...

 

[happybratpack]

Awesome report, can't wait to read more! (hurry! jk)

 

[lazidazi07]

Very cool. The pictures are like, crystal clear! Subing! Cant wait to hear more.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

At about 11:30 we were both starting to feel a bit hungry since we hadn’t eaten anything since the quick bite we grabbed at the airport in Minneapolis the day before. We headed over to Margaritaville at CityWalk. We had eaten there a few times on previous trips before HHN but had always eaten outside. We ordered the conch fritters and the crab, shrimp, and mushroom dip for starters then Bonny had the lobster shrimp salad while I ordered the grilled mahi mahi. Of course we had a few margies to wash it all down. About halfway through our meal we heard this incredible rumbling, and the lights started to flicker. The next thing we knew the volcano above the bar was erupting and spewing margaritas into the big blender. We thought that was just too cool! Radio Margaritaville was broadcasting live from the restaurant that afternoon which was kind of fun to watch. You can see the DJ booth in the first pic.

After we were full of our lunch, we did some shopping then decided we would make our way back to the car and head over to Epcot to pick up our WDW APs and our DDE card.

We finally got back to our car which was parked on the second level of the Jaws lot. Those who know Universal well know that you can’t park much further away. Well just as we were getting to the car I suddenly realized that I had left our digital camcorder at our table at Margaritaville. I just stopped dead in my tracks and said “Oh $%^& the camcorder!!!”. We had a brief moment of panic then quickly checked our shopping bags to see if we had in fact brought it from lunch and put it in one of the bags. Sure enough it wasn’t there. Since I can move pretty good for a big guy when I have to (usually when I hear “last call”), Bonny waited at the car while I practically ran back to Margaritaville. I had figured we had seen the last of it and I’d have to drop another $600 to replace it. I got back to Margaritaville in just a few minutes and sure enough there it was on the shelf behind the hostess’ podium. The good news was I got the camcorder back but the bad news was I had just discovered my Canadian blood was too thick for running in Orlando. I started making my way back to the car with my head pounding thinking “This isn’t such a bad place to die”. By the time I got back to the car I don’t know who was happier…Bonny to see the camcorder or me to sit in air conditioning.

After a few minutes of resting in the a/c, we left Universal and headed over to Epcot. Fortunately by that time of day some of the early folks had left, leaving some open parking spaces in the first few rows. We headed to the guest services and had no problems picking up our APs. When we mentioned our DDE card, they checked and pulled out an envelope with our temporary card ready to go.

We headed back to the resort to rest up for a bit. We then headed down to the food court and picked up our refillable mugs.

After a quick drink we decided to browse in the shop. Those who read the pre-trip report will recall we had planned to go to Downtown Disney to pick up a Pal Mickey that night to try out on this trip. We were both dead tired from not having gotten much sleep the night before so we decided to pick up the Pal Mickey at the resort and not head out to DTD that night. We did our browsing, snagged our Pal Mickey, refilled our mugs again, and headed back to our room.

After a few hours, we decided to go to DTD after all. We just did a bit of browsing around the marketplace and grabbed a bite at Earl of Sandwich. We got back to the resort around 11:00 and set our wake-up call for 6:30 since we had a breakfast ADR at Kona.

Off to bed and the end of our day…

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

The pictures are like, crystal clear!

Wait until you see the pics of Wishes

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

(hurry! jk)

Ask and ye shall receive...

 

[flafan]

Can't wait to hear more - Looking forward to more pics - They are GREAT!

 

[DreaGirl]

I hate that sinking feeling when you realize that you have left/forgotten something! Glad that story turned out well!

Are those outfits for Pal Mickey? I didn't know they made those.

Keep it comin'!

 

[pooksma]

Whew! Glad the camcorder was still there!

Love the Pal Mickey outfits-hope you have shots of him wearing the pirate costume.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Are those outfits for Pal Mickey? I didn't know they made those.

Yep..they sell these two plus a safari outfit for $12 each. They also used to sell a pin trading one but that's been discontinued.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Love the Pal Mickey outfits-hope you have shots of him wearing the pirate costume.

Actually that's his costume for MNSSHP (yes I put more thought into this than any adult should)...we dressed him in the red ball cap and white t-shirt for the parks and yes we have a lot of pics of him out and about