Part 11 Day 8 Friday 06th October
Alarm was set for 10.00, no rush to get up as we had Front of the Line access today.
Express checked out of the Hard Rock Hotel , left our overnight bags at luggage storage then onto the Kitchen for Breakfast. At $33.97 for two this isn’t the cheapest buffet in town but it was very nice.
Travelled to Universal Studio’s via the Water Taxi again. It is a nice way to get around but not the quickest.
Through the turnstiles at 11.40 and flashed our Front of the Line cards to get into Shrek 4-D. We just missed been let into this showing so had to wait 10 mins but better than the 30 mins advertised.
Onto Men in Black now. We hadn’t done this before as last year when we returned for our Universal Express time of 19.00 it had shut! We bought the photo on this one ($23.38 inc frame) and unlike Buzz Lightyear this photo has your score on it, I now have proof that I am better than Gavin!! The two teenage lads in our car wiped the floor with all of us but Gavin wasn’t all bad, he beat the really old guy.
ET was another first for us but we certainly weren’t missing much. Gavin believes the reason ET doesn’t say anyone’s name right is because the people inputting your name don’t put them in right, for Gavin he pressed exactly two keys on his keyboard before scanning the passport.
After a brief stop for a rest and a Sprite (large $3.19) we went to Terminater2-3D, The next show was at 14.00 which was half an hour away so we amused ourselves in the gift shops. Terminator2-3D is a brilliant show, see it!
We had another pit stop at Starbucks but Gavin’s Muffin was stale and he didn’t like his Frappuccino as it was coffee based not cream based as the Caramel ones over here are so he went and got a slice of pizza and a coke (no receipt)
Strawberry Frappuccino - $4.25
Caramel Frappuccino - $4.25
Lemon Pound Cake - $1.95
Blueberry Muffin - $2.25
Tax - $0.83
Total - $13.53
Jaws would be our last ride of the day, flashed our passes for the last time to jump ahead of a 30 min queue. Only Shrek and Jaws had longish queues, everywhere else was 5-10 mins.
This is definitely better after the refurb. Universal done we headed back to the Hard Rock Hotel to collect our bags and car via the Garden walkway.
We enjoyed our stay here but even a standard room is pricey. I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t special occasion. Even the lure of Front f the Line access doesn’t appeal. Even though we skipped lines at the rides at midday the park was busy and very hot. We would have usually been done and gone by now. Also as we had been using Fastpass with some skill at Disney Front of the Line access felt normal not ‘I’ve paid a flaming fortune for this key and I will enjoy using it’
Two observations about Universal Studios. It is looking very old and tired. Despite refurbed rides and a state of the art coaster it looks grubby. Also wherever we turned there we reps trying to sell us a timeshare. At Disney the DVC programme is advertised heavily and the booths/reps noticeable but they wait for you to approach them. At Universal we were pestered many times to ’just have a chat with us‘, at one stage we ’u’ turned and went to our destination an alternative way to avoid them. This sort of thing is guest harassment. Since returned home I have thought strongly about not returning to Universal for some time because of these issues, primarily the timeshare one. Islands of Adventure is not included in these comments.
Back at Pop at 16.30 and Gavin refilled our mugs (yeah! Free drinks again) while I unpacked our overnight bags.
Gavin went online and emailed some of the pictures the clerk had taken yesterday when we got married to our parents.
We had tea at Chilis on International Drive again tonight.
Shanghai Wings X2 - $13.98
Chicken Fajitas X2 - $21.29
Coke - $2.09
Tea - $2.09
Tax - $2.57
Total $42.02 plus tip
The Shanghai wings are gorgeous but you get too many for a starter and I would have felt ill if I had eaten them all as they are a bit sweet. The a/c in here is ridiculous, always on -10. I wish I had taken a jumper with me!
Back to Pop and bed around 22.00
Mug Refills - 1 each
Weather - No breeze, no cloud and a very hot 92 degrees
Jodie
PART 12 HERE
Alarm was set for 10.00, no rush to get up as we had Front of the Line access today.
Express checked out of the Hard Rock Hotel , left our overnight bags at luggage storage then onto the Kitchen for Breakfast. At $33.97 for two this isn’t the cheapest buffet in town but it was very nice.
Travelled to Universal Studio’s via the Water Taxi again. It is a nice way to get around but not the quickest.
Through the turnstiles at 11.40 and flashed our Front of the Line cards to get into Shrek 4-D. We just missed been let into this showing so had to wait 10 mins but better than the 30 mins advertised.
Onto Men in Black now. We hadn’t done this before as last year when we returned for our Universal Express time of 19.00 it had shut! We bought the photo on this one ($23.38 inc frame) and unlike Buzz Lightyear this photo has your score on it, I now have proof that I am better than Gavin!! The two teenage lads in our car wiped the floor with all of us but Gavin wasn’t all bad, he beat the really old guy.
ET was another first for us but we certainly weren’t missing much. Gavin believes the reason ET doesn’t say anyone’s name right is because the people inputting your name don’t put them in right, for Gavin he pressed exactly two keys on his keyboard before scanning the passport.
After a brief stop for a rest and a Sprite (large $3.19) we went to Terminater2-3D, The next show was at 14.00 which was half an hour away so we amused ourselves in the gift shops. Terminator2-3D is a brilliant show, see it!
We had another pit stop at Starbucks but Gavin’s Muffin was stale and he didn’t like his Frappuccino as it was coffee based not cream based as the Caramel ones over here are so he went and got a slice of pizza and a coke (no receipt)
Strawberry Frappuccino - $4.25
Caramel Frappuccino - $4.25
Lemon Pound Cake - $1.95
Blueberry Muffin - $2.25
Tax - $0.83
Total - $13.53
Jaws would be our last ride of the day, flashed our passes for the last time to jump ahead of a 30 min queue. Only Shrek and Jaws had longish queues, everywhere else was 5-10 mins.
This is definitely better after the refurb. Universal done we headed back to the Hard Rock Hotel to collect our bags and car via the Garden walkway.
We enjoyed our stay here but even a standard room is pricey. I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t special occasion. Even the lure of Front f the Line access doesn’t appeal. Even though we skipped lines at the rides at midday the park was busy and very hot. We would have usually been done and gone by now. Also as we had been using Fastpass with some skill at Disney Front of the Line access felt normal not ‘I’ve paid a flaming fortune for this key and I will enjoy using it’
Two observations about Universal Studios. It is looking very old and tired. Despite refurbed rides and a state of the art coaster it looks grubby. Also wherever we turned there we reps trying to sell us a timeshare. At Disney the DVC programme is advertised heavily and the booths/reps noticeable but they wait for you to approach them. At Universal we were pestered many times to ’just have a chat with us‘, at one stage we ’u’ turned and went to our destination an alternative way to avoid them. This sort of thing is guest harassment. Since returned home I have thought strongly about not returning to Universal for some time because of these issues, primarily the timeshare one. Islands of Adventure is not included in these comments.
Back at Pop at 16.30 and Gavin refilled our mugs (yeah! Free drinks again) while I unpacked our overnight bags.
Gavin went online and emailed some of the pictures the clerk had taken yesterday when we got married to our parents.
We had tea at Chilis on International Drive again tonight.
Shanghai Wings X2 - $13.98
Chicken Fajitas X2 - $21.29
Coke - $2.09
Tea - $2.09
Tax - $2.57
Total $42.02 plus tip
The Shanghai wings are gorgeous but you get too many for a starter and I would have felt ill if I had eaten them all as they are a bit sweet. The a/c in here is ridiculous, always on -10. I wish I had taken a jumper with me!
Back to Pop and bed around 22.00
Mug Refills - 1 each
Weather - No breeze, no cloud and a very hot 92 degrees
Jodie
PART 12 HERE
im very good at fobbing off these types of people 
but dh is rubbish 
