July 6th-9th with photos!

[Spongemage]

Day 1

It's 9:30 AM, time to get up. We should leave by 10. Not a problem. I'm just so excited to be going to Universal again! Time to get ready....

I'm just gonna cut to the car. Ok, we're in the car and leaving, great, we're going to make it to Universal! I'm so excited. But then I realize that my shoes don't fit very well.......off to IHOP for breakfast (mmmmm, bacon) and then Target for a new pair of shoes. Ok, got the shoes, great, time to go! WOOOO!

So, we drive.........and drive...........and drive........and drive.......I listen to my iPod for several hours then stare mindlessly out the window reading all of the Oralndo Vacation Bureau signs. Then after 6 hours of driving I see it....Doctor Doom's FearFall. I smile. Finally.....we're here.

It's off to the hotel. Off-site. But that's okay, we got express passes! We check in no problem and I go check out my room. This is nice....*thinks about parks* WHY AM I IN THE HOTEL ROOM!?

We hop in the car and its off to CityWalk! We go to dinner at Margaritaville (mmmm, grilled chicken ceasar salad).

Anyway, we decide to skip the parks for tonight and head back to the hotel. Time for sleep......

Coming Soon....DAY 2!

 

[katybugsmom]

Can't wait to hear more!!!!

 

[Spongemage]

DAY 2

My eyes open........I see the hotel room around me then I remember...........TODAY WE GO TO THE PARK! I hop out of bed and jump in the shower. Hop out of the shower and into my park clothes. TO THE CAR!

Ok, cut to the front gate of Universal Studios after the long walk from the parking garage (even though I do like walking on those moving floors, they make you feel like you have super speed). We enter the park and I barely look around before I yell out, "Let's go to Mummy first. I hustle to Mummy and I smile as we approach the building. The last time I was here, this was Kongfrontation. My first time on Mummy, and guess what happens......FRONT ROW! WOOOOO! So we ride Mummy, it was by far my FAVORITE ride at both parks.

I took this after we rode. Sorry about the lopsidedness. I was moving with the crowd while taking the picture.

Next its off to TWISTER.....Ride It Out! I got REALLY wet on this one! Well, we did Twister and then decided to go ride JAWS. When we got there the line was pretty short.

What an odd place to store your shoes......

I think we probably waited a maximum of 20-25 minutes to get on. So we set off through Amity and what do you know, Jaws shows up to ruin our boat tour! *sigh* So much for a relaxing boat tour. But luckily, our skipper had a grenade launcher and fried Jaws and turned him into....well......a fried fish.

Then we decided since we were there it was time for MEN IN BLACK: Alien Attack!

Now thats what I call a Hi-Def TV!

Hi aliens!
So we ride and guess what.....FRONT ROW AGAIN! (By the way, we also got front row on JAWS). I got the 100,000 point bonus by pressing the red button!

So we get off Men in Black and then head over to Back to the Future The Ride. It was an ok ride, it was different than I remember (I know it was not really any different. My memory of it was just sketchy). It was not that impressive compared to the other rides but you have to consider when this thing was built.

After back to the Future we started to move toward the front of the park. We passed the penguins from Madagascar and got close to E.T. I thought about it and then decided it was not worth the wait. I am 15 after all. Rides like that do not really impress me (no offense to E.T. lovers, I know its a good ride, I just love thrill rides). So we pass E.T. and then we come across Terminator 2: 3-D Battle Across Time. It says the next show is in 10 minutes, so we hop in line and prepare to take on SkyNet.

I grab my glasses and walk into the pre-show room.\

oooooooo......pretty lights.......
I grab my seat in the theater completely ignoring Sarah Connor's warning and the show begins.

The effects in this show are really cool and still impress me. Especially the motorcycle coming out of the screen.

We walk out of the theater into the gift shop where the Terminator is standing.

AHHHHH! ITS THE TERMINATOR!

We then see that its raining......ugh.......we have to walk in that. I step outside into the rain. Oh well, what can you do.

I want to ride Shrek 4-D and Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast now, but we decide to get something to eat instead and do those later.

We walked in the rain to Landry's Seafood House.

These are some cool fountains
We get one of the tables by the aquarium.

Some pictures from my seat.

I had the fried shrimp. Those shrimp were HUGE! I guess when you live in Georgia you never really experience real fried shrimp.

We leave the restaraunt and head toward the front of the park. We looked at the two rides we had not done yet (Shrek 4-D and Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast) and then looked at our wet clothes and decided we did not want to wait in a 40 minute line when we were soaking wet. So we left. I still kind of wish we had done Shrek 4-D. Oh well.

Here's a picture from the end of the hall in the hotel after extreme zoomage on the camera:

We had T.G.I. Friday's for dinner.

Well, that's it for Day 2. I'll post Day 3 tomorrow if I get a chance. I took a LOT more pictures of IOA than I did of USF.

See you soon!

 

[katybugsmom]

Keep it coming! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Spongemage]

DAY 3

I wake up. WOOOOOOOO! First trip to Islands of Adventure! I hop out of bed and get ready.

I would cut to the car here. But nothing eventful happened in the car. So cut to the gate of Islands of Adventure.

Some pictures of the gate

Since I already have my ticket in hand I walk up to the turnstile and go inside. Already I am amazed by the place. I go into the Port of Entry and look around. One word-WOW! It's just amazing. I'll post some pics of the Port of Entry later.

First up-Marvel Super Hero Island. I look up and see the HULK roaring over my head.

^ I did not take this one until later in the day but I thought I'd post it since we were talking about HULK

^ I did not take this one until later in the day either but since we are talking about HULK, I posted it

So we ride HULK first. AMAZING. One of the best coasters I have ever been on.

Next up, Doctor Doom's FearFall.

^Did not take this one until later either

Honestly, I was dissapointed with this ride. If I did not have an express pass and waited 45 minutes for that. I would be mad. It is just one big drop then two little lame ones. They need to make this ride launch you fully to the top at least twice.

Anyway, time to fight alongside Spider-Man!

I show the guy at the gate my express pass and I feel like a celebrity as I whiz past everyone waiting in the hour-long line. I'm telling you, these express passes are worth every penny. Anyway, the ride. This was SO cool! This is how I would describe it....A roller coaster type simulator ride with 4-D effects! I was AMAZED by this ride!

After that, I just wandered around the island for a little while and moved on to TOON LAGOON. Which is where I will leave you for now.

See you soon!

 

[RobinMarie]

Lovin' the pictures!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent piccies.