"I want my soup!" An October 2010 Trip Report UPDATED 7/9 2012 PTR STARTED!

[Rora]

WWOHP!! Most anticipated post of the TR!!

AHH!!! It looks amazing!! I'm pretty sure I would tear up if I was there

Seriously, the theme looks incredibly and so well executed.

I absolutely love that you were screaming the characters names and Expecto Patronum on the ride!! Unicorns for life!!

Now, I must plan a trip... poor DH.

 

[jenny105]

I've heard nothing but AMAZING things about WWoHP and FJ! Can't wait to go-- I still can't understand exactly how the seating works, but I guess I'll be pleasantly surprised! Can't wait to hear how you enjoyed the rest of the day!

I found a picture of it!

When you're loading, the cars face toward you, similar to how Nemo loads. But instead of staying on the belt, it goes up on a hidden track which makes you seem like you're flying. I hope that makes sense!

Hey Jen!

Tomorrow is our last day here in WDW and I'm just doing some packing and catching up on some TRs!

Just read your last few chapters so I'm all caught up! I'm glad you guys had a good time at WWoHP! All I keep hearing is negative feedback about it! Everyone loves the Forbidden Jorney, but they just keep talking about how crowded and cramped it is. I'm happy you guys were able to see the positive side! We'll wait a couple of years before we go...we've never been to Universal at all so we'll plan a couple of days just for those parks.

Oh, and I haven't read all the commentary in between your updates so in case no one has mentioned this...Northern Ireland is part of the United Kindom so that is why they sell U2 t-shirts in the gift shop at Epcot! My BF asked the same question when we were in there the other day!

Also - that beer cap hat that your sister tried on....we took a similar pic! Did you see the one with the drunk chicken? Hahahaha!

Hi!

It is crowded and the "streets" are small but they were trying to make it like a little village. What do people expect, for it not to be crowded?? I was ready for it and wasn't going to let it ruin my experience. I thought it was awesome!

You definitely need a day for each park. Trying to cram everything in in one day was exhausting.

My DIS friend Meghan pointed out that it was the UK, not just England. I was like 'what exactly is Disney trying to pull?' lol

I didn't see the one with the drunk chicken! Picture please!

You'd better return, because I see absolutely nothing in your entry about getting Butterbeer! We got it twice. I need to find a recipe to make it at home, oh man. I'm going to start drooling if I think about it too much.

You'll have to keep reading to find out!

WWOHP!! Most anticipated post of the TR!!

AHH!!! It looks amazing!! I'm pretty sure I would tear up if I was there

Seriously, the theme looks incredibly and so well executed.

I absolutely love that you were screaming the characters names and Expecto Patronum on the ride!! Unicorns for life!!

Now, I must plan a trip... poor DH.

It is amazing! You HAVE to go there, even if you just go for WWoHP and that's it. Universal did an awesome job with it.

I don't want to ruin the ride for you but some characters show up in the ride that I was super excited to see.

 

[jenny105]

So I left off with us exploring the fabulous-ness that is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was getting crowded in that area so we decided to hit some other parts of the park. Starting with...

Welcome to Jurassic Park

This is another favorite area of mine in IOA. The theming is great, everything looks just like it does in the movie, and the ride is FUN! That drop is crazy! I had told Alex that you don't get that soaked unless you get the front row. We got the front row. So he opted out. He's not much of a water ride person. Kris was so excited about this ride, it was all he could talk about, and he & my sister were humming the JP theme song everytime they saw each other. Needless to say, they both loved the ride.

A few shots around JP.

"Are there any dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour?"

Earlier in the TR, I said the China picture was my favorite picture of Kris. I take it back. This is.

The John Hammond Hat!

Since we had already done a water ride, we decided to just get the others over with. Off to Toon Lagoon! I love this part of IOA too. It looks like your walking around the Sunday comic section of the newspaper!

Ripsaw Falls

We were pretty hungry by then and stopped to get something to eat before we hit the other water rides. We went to Blondies. I think almost all of us got the Dagwood sandwich. I wish I had taken a picture of it, that sucker is huge! And so good! I forget exactly what's on it but I believe it was turkey & ham & cheese plus lettuce & tomato and a speared olive on top. Yummy! While we were waiting for our food, Olive Oil and Popeye were making the rounds and visiting with guests. So cute!

Alex was sitting these rides out (remember, NOT a water ride person) and since Bluto's Bilge Rats was right there, we went on that first. For those of you not familiar with the ride, it's your basic rapids ride only it's pretty fast and has a giant hill that you cascade down. Oh, and you get SOAKED!

Quick pic of the entrance

Us after the ride.

We played with the blasters for a bit and got quite a few people with them. I love doing that! Then we headed over to Ripsaw Falls. There was a bit of a line, I think we waited about a half hour or so. That ride gets you even more soaked than the rapids! The tiny drops within the ride even get you soaked. This is nothing like Splash Mountain folks. You WILL get DRENCHED on Ripsaw Falls! We were so soaked, we paid $5 for all of us to get into one of those giant dryers lol. It blasts hot air on you for about 5 minutes straight but it really didn't do much! At least I wasn't dripping anymore. Seriously, it was like I took a shower with my clothes on.

We found the blasters for Ripsaw after that and had some fun with those. Those blasters are right next to the log lanes right after the drop. If someone's in the far lane, you can pretty much get them right in the face with water. And we totally did.

I took a few more shots of Toon Lagoon...

And then we headed off to see some super heroes...

Stay tuned!

 

[Dancegrl624]

I hate that Dudley Do Right ride!!!! My litte sis, my DH and me went to IOA in 2006. My little sis had been there before and she said she didn't get soaked on that ride. I was ready to kill her about half way through...I don't like water rides, except for Splash Mtn. Of course, someone up on the bridge blasted me in the face when I was already super mad. My contacts nearly fell out because I got so wet...NOT FUN! Anyways...we spent about $10 in quarters that day blasting other people in the face. That was my payback.

 

[jenny105]

I hate that Dudley Do Right ride!!!! My litte sis, my DH and me went to IOA in 2006. My little sis had been there before and she said she didn't get soaked on that ride. I was ready to kill her about half way through...I don't like water rides, except for Splash Mtn. Of course, someone up on the bridge blasted me in the face when I was already super mad. My contacts nearly fell out because I got so wet...NOT FUN! Anyways...we spent about $10 in quarters that day blasting other people in the face. That was my payback.

Your sister straight up lied to you! You get super soaked on that ride, no doubt about it! There's no avoiding it. And getting hit with a blaster when you're already mad is no fun! I'm sure you were ready to strangle her by the time you were done with that ride. Did it make you feel better to get everyone else with the blasters?

 

[Rora]

You know, I've never done the JP ride.. I will have to give it a try when I go visit Harry! But, I'm absolutely TERRIFIED of animatronic dinosaurs.. I have no idea why. They scare the poop outta me.. I love Dinosaur at AK but ride with my eyes closed! Not sure if I could handle this one..

BAHAHAHA.. love Kris' dino hat. Very flattering!!

I love your Toon Lagoon pictures! Again, haven't done many rides in Toon Lagoon either but they look like a blast!

Everytime I've been to IoA or US, I'm there for Halloween Horror Nights. I've been to US once and then US and IoA for HHN and it's clearly a totally different theme park.. . I guess I really should go give IoA a try-- although it feels slightly sacreligious..

Love your pictures-- you guys are all too cute!!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Your sister straight up lied to you! You get super soaked on that ride, no doubt about it! There's no avoiding it. And getting hit with a blaster when you're already mad is no fun! I'm sure you were ready to strangle her by the time you were done with that ride. Did it make you feel better to get everyone else with the blasters?

It felt AWESOME to spray people with those blasters!!!

 

[klacey1]

Isn't IOA the best?? JPA is such a well-themed ride! I always thought Ripsaw Falls was more of a cheap Splash Mountain, but still fun. It DEFINITELY soaks you though, every time!

 

[jenny105]

You know, I've never done the JP ride.. I will have to give it a try when I go visit Harry! But, I'm absolutely TERRIFIED of animatronic dinosaurs.. I have no idea why. They scare the poop outta me.. I love Dinosaur at AK but ride with my eyes closed! Not sure if I could handle this one..

BAHAHAHA.. love Kris' dino hat. Very flattering!!

I love your Toon Lagoon pictures! Again, haven't done many rides in Toon Lagoon either but they look like a blast!

Everytime I've been to IoA or US, I'm there for Halloween Horror Nights. I've been to US once and then US and IoA for HHN and it's clearly a totally different theme park.. . I guess I really should go give IoA a try-- although it feels slightly sacreligious..

Love your pictures-- you guys are all too cute!!

Dinosaur is a lot scarier than JP. You can barely see anything on dinosaur and then all of a sudden there's a giant dinosaur in your face! Half of JP is outside and the lift and hill are inside. You gotta do it when you visit WWoHP!

I wasn't sure Kris would be able to get that hat off his head. It's definitely meant for a kid.

I actually like IOA better than US. I like the theming and I think it's just more fun in general.

Thanks!

It felt AWESOME to spray people with those blasters!!!

I bet it did!

Isn't IOA the best?? JPA is such a well-themed ride! I always thought Ripsaw Falls was more of a cheap Splash Mountain, but still fun. It DEFINITELY soaks you though, every time!

I think the same thing about Ripsaw Falls! It's definitely not as well themed as Splash and I can't singalong with the songs but it's still so much fun!

 

[jenny105]

So when I last left off, we had made our way through the Jurassic Park and Toon Lagoon sections of IOA. Next up, Marvel Super Hero Island!

First my sister had to stop for one of her (many) ciagarette breaks, since there was a designated smoking area between the Toon Lagoon and Super Hero areas. There was a little lagoon behind the area and I spotted this guy swimming around.

Cute!

The sirens were going off in Super Hero Island, which usually means the super heroes are wandering around! We only saw Wolverine as we were walking down the street. Not cool, Hugh Jackman Wolverine. The yellow & blue unitard Wolverine.

We hit my favorite ride first!

For those of you who are not familiar with the Spiderman ride...well...it freakin rules. It was my number 1 favorite ride in Universal (it is now #2 behind Harry Potter). Basically, Doc Oc has developed some kind of ray that can lift things off the ground and he and the other villians are trying to destroy NYC. Spiderman, of course, has to stop them. You're in this car that moves around from set to set and stops in front of screens and everything is in 3D, with 4D effects mixed in. It's just so much fun and I absolutely love it.

After our Spidey senses were done tingling, we headed to Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. Alex opted out of this ride too. It's your basic tower ride, you sit in an open air seat and are strapped in by a harness, and the car shoots up the tower very fast and you bounce your way down. They have it in pretty much every theme park in America. This one is cool because you get a view of the Universal property.

A couple shots around Super Hero Island

Our next ride was the Hulk. I'm not a huge fan of the Hulk coaster. I feel like I have a concussion when I'm off the ride. I had told my sister what the ride did but made no mention of it to anyone else. So when we shot up that hill at 65 mph, the guys were pretty freaked out.

After Hulk, we decided to head over to Seuss Landing to go on the Cat in the Hat!

It was then my camera decided to die so I will now be borrowing some pictures from Adam!

I love the Cat in the Hat ride. It's a dark ride and the car spins around at certain points during the ride. It tells the story, of course, of the Cat in the Hat and everything is just really colorful. That whole land is decorated spectacularly and I wish I had more pictures to show you!

After Cat in the Hat, Kris & I took a quick spin on the caroseussel. A carosel, dr seuss styles. The "horses" are weird Dr. Seuss characters. Love it!

We decided to head back one more time to the WWoHP. Of course, we still hadn't tried the butter beer!!! The area was much less crowded this time around so we were able to look in a couple of shops, as my sister and Adam waited in line for butter beer. I specifically went to the bathroom in this section because you can hear Moaning Myrtle in the restrooms. Another awesome touch by Universal! I also noticed they had 'Have you seen this Wizard?' signs posted around WWoHP with moving pictures of Sirius Black, just like in Prisoner of Azkaban! Too cool. After they got their butterbeer, we all headed toward Forbidden Journey, which was only a 45 minute wait at this point. We needed to go on that ride again! While in line I tried the butterbeer. It's really sweet, like a twist between butterscotch and carmel, not two of my favorite things, but it's pretty good. And it made me incredibly giddy lol. I couldn't drink more than one cup of it, I'd probably feel sick. But anyway, we got one more ride of FJ in and everyone loved it just as much the second time around, though we all felt a little thrown off (probably because of all the other rides we had done throughout the day!). The ride empties out into a gift shop (of course) so my sis bought me a black tshirt with the Hogwarts crest on it and it says 'Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' Score! Kris also surprised me with a Chocolate Frog from Honeydukes It even came with a Wizard card just like in the books. I got Rowena Ravenclaw. We had one more ride to do at IOA and that was Dragon Challenge. It was just me, Kris, and Adam for that one and that queue has even more Harry Potter stuff. Since it's themed for the Goblet of Fire, there are signs everywhere for the school champions. I snapped a few on my camera phone of the Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory signs. In that line you will also see the Weasley's car crashed into a tree. Awesome! I've been on Dragon Challenge before, it's been there forever, they just rethemed it for the WWoHP. It's a suspended, dual-track, racing coaster and they come within 18 inches of each other at certain points of the ride. It's a lot of fun!

Adam was getting antsy to go over to HHN but the rest of us were starving. We let him do his thing since he wanted to see the haunted houses and the rest of us went to Pastamore in CityWalk. We wanted to go to Margaritaville but it was an hour wait. No thanks. The food in Pastamore was pretty good, I'd recommend it. Obviously, it's Italian food.

After Pastamore, we headed over to HHN. I wasn't interested in the haunted houses at all and neither was anybody except Adam. He had gotten two in and wanted to do the rides now so we did what was open: Jaws, The Simpsons, MIB, and the Mummy in that order. The Ghosthunters (Steve and Tango) were also there but we got to HHN too late and pretty much missed them altogether. Oh well. Tango lives about 3 towns over from my job so maybe I'll bump into him one day!

HHN. Meh. It was fun but I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe because I was so tired or maybe because there were a bunch of drunk people there. There are beer stands every 5 feet. Honestly, I had more fun at MNSSHP last year. I like Universal, I loved WWoHP, but...Disney is still my favorite, hands down. I could easily spend a week in Disney without getting bored. I couldn't at Universal.

One thing I thought was cool at HHN was the chainsaw army. These guys would be in formation, with their leader/drill sargeant acting as they do, and they would just be chanting 'KILL!' Then they scattered and started chasing people around with their chainsaws. What was funny is that Alex was standing in the mayhem, videotaping them, and no one came after him.

Adam managed to get a picture of them

I wish he would've gotten one of them in formation!

We headed back to Pop Century around 11:45. We were all SO tired but it had been another amazing day. What would tomorrow bring? Would Kris get to see his hero Indiana Jones? Would everyone brave the Tower of Terror? And more importantly, would I beat everyone at TSM? Stay tuned to find out...



I realize this was a very text heavy post! More pictures next post, promise!

 

[klacey1]

Sounds like your day ended well! Pastamore is pretty good. I agree about Spiderman-- sooo amazing! We were pretty upset they were getting rid of Back to the Future, but I think the Simpsons ride is pretty cool, too.

 

[jenny105]

Sounds like your day ended well! Pastamore is pretty good. I agree about Spiderman-- sooo amazing! We were pretty upset they were getting rid of Back to the Future, but I think the Simpsons ride is pretty cool, too.

The only gripe I had about Pastamore was that the service was slow. But you get that pretty much anywhere you go!

I was only on Back to the Future once and as much as I love the movies, I didn't like the ride. I'm a much bigger fan of the Simpsons ride! I love Homer

 

[Rora]

I love that you didn't tell anyone but your sister what the Hulk did!

Spiderman sounds cool! I'll have to try that next time!

The Cat and the Hat ride is a blast. That's like the only ride I remember. So much fun!

Hmm.. I can't decide if the flavors of the Butterbeer sound good to me. Nevertheless, I need to try one! So, did you hear Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom?

AHH!! Love the merchandise you got!!

One of the most annoying things about HHN is the obnoxious drunk people. Every year I've gone they been just so incredibly irritating, and they seem to be everywhere. Ugh. I totally agree with you about MNSSHP. Much more fun.

Can't wait to hear about MGM!

 

[jenny105]

I love that you didn't tell anyone but your sister what the Hulk did!

Spiderman sounds cool! I'll have to try that next time!

The Cat and the Hat ride is a blast. That's like the only ride I remember. So much fun!

Hmm.. I can't decide if the flavors of the Butterbeer sound good to me. Nevertheless, I need to try one! So, did you hear Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom?

AHH!! Love the merchandise you got!!

One of the most annoying things about HHN is the obnoxious drunk people. Every year I've gone they been just so incredibly irritating, and they seem to be everywhere. Ugh. I totally agree with you about MNSSHP. Much more fun.

Can't wait to hear about MGM!

They asked me not to tell them what every ride did. I kept my word.

Spiderman is awesome! You definitely have to try it!

Yes, I did hear Moaning Myrtle. She was laughing and saying something, though I couldn't make out what. The restroom was crowded! But she definitely makes herself heard.

Yeah, I wasn't loving HHN. I would partake in a drink or two but I wouldn't go to a theme park to get drunk, knowing there are families around. Classy!

 

[jenny105]

After our late night at Universal Orlando, we slept in a little bit later than usual on Day 5, DHS Day! We had CS breakfast at Pop and got to DHS around 11. I saw the board at the front of the park stating TSM was already sold out of FPs (I already knew that!) so we just made our way around the park without rushing off to anything.

Notice how absolutely perfect the weather is?? I love Florida in the fall!

Our first stop? The Great Movie Ride!

The line was a lot longer than usual. I'm used to walking right into the room with the movie and up to the door, ready to board in 5 minutes. We waited about a half hour I think. I never realized they played the same movie clips over and over again until I was in that room for an extended period of time. It got old after awhile, lemme tell you! Everyone enjoyed the ride, especially the Wizard of Oz scene. Adam kept saying how 'cool' everything was.

After GMR, we headed over to TSM. The wait said 60 minutes. Not terrible. It was a little past noon and we had an ADR at Sci Fi for 2:05. We should have had enough time. Did we?

Nope! The line took longer than usual to get inside the building, which should've been my first clue. The ride was down. By the time we had waited 60 minutes, we weren't even up to Mr. Potato Head yet! 60 minutes huh? More like 120 minutes! Needless to say, we missed our ADR at Sci Fi. Everyone loved the ride but we were all really annoyed we had to wait that long. We kept ourselves busy taking pictures in line. I took a picture of Kris on my phone and since it's fairly new, I was playing with the different photo options. I have something called face warp on my phone. My sister and I were in tears, we were laughing so hard, making him look like he was in one of those funhouse mirrors. He wasn't too pleased but it kept us occupied! Here are all of my TSM pictures for you There's quite a few!

Kris beat me!!! Grrrrrr. I held my own though.

I don't know how people get those crazy high scores!! My arm would fall off if I tried.

Since we missed our ADR and we were all pretty hungry at this point, we had to find somewhere else to go. Where would we have lunch? Would TSM be our longest wait time of the day? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[merrymouse1]

I have never done the GMR but after your review I think I'll try it next week. I cannot believe you had to wait 2 hoursThere is no way people in my group will wait two hours for anything. We better get there early!

Great, great pictures, Thanks!

 

[Rora]

Oh yes ma'am, those movie clips in the Great Movie Ride get old! GMR is a cool ride- love it!

You missed your ADR? Well, I'm glad everyone loved TSM!

Hey, even though Kris beat you-- your score is totally commendable! I'm terrible at those kinds of games but Jackson can get HUGE scores. He got the max score on Buzz Lightyear one time. Insane. And yes, it hurts my arm too but hey, good arm workout!

 

[jenny105]

I have never done the GMR but after your review I think I'll try it next week. I cannot believe you had to wait 2 hoursThere is no way people in my group will wait two hours for anything. We better get there early!

Great, great pictures, Thanks!

Normally the line for TSM moves very quickly. The ride was down, there was no announcement made, and we were already halfway through the line after an hour. At that point, no one wanted to leave. But yes, I recommend getting there early, getting a FP, and then get on line so you can ride it twice!

Oh yes ma'am, those movie clips in the Great Movie Ride get old! GMR is a cool ride- love it!

You missed your ADR? Well, I'm glad everyone loved TSM!

Hey, even though Kris beat you-- your score is totally commendable! I'm terrible at those kinds of games but Jackson can get HUGE scores. He got the max score on Buzz Lightyear one time. Insane. And yes, it hurts my arm too but hey, good arm workout!

Yes, missed our ADR! Oh well!

He didn't beat me by that much and I totally kicked his butt when it came to accuracy. Buzz Lightyear is a weird one. Sometimes I get a really high score (I think I got 600k one time) and other times I can't even crack 100k!

 

[klacey1]

Wow, I cannot imagine waiting for 2 hours!! I probably would have left for my ADR! I hope you guys found somewhere to eat quickly!

 

[jenny105]

Wow, I cannot imagine waiting for 2 hours!! I probably would have left for my ADR! I hope you guys found somewhere to eat quickly!

At that point, we were too far along in line that no one wanted to leave it. We had already put in over an hour of waiting!