Lisash
Knows all the words to 'It's
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2005
- Messages
- 1,994
Cast Members
Me: Hoping crowds will start to lessen now
DH: Hoping for a lie in
DD: Hoping for some more retail therapy
DS: Hoping trousers still fit (have you checked out calorie value of powerade!)
Sunday 1st January
As we didn't get to bed till late we decided on a little bit of a lie in and Universal as it was so close to the hotel. We arrived at 11ish to find it fairly quiet. We had no specific plans for the day, and as it seemed most people were headed to Universal Studios we decided to go to IOA first.
It proved to be an excellent choice and was blissfully crowd free. As usual we headed straight for Hulk (I chickened out again) Dr Doom and Spiderman then took a stroll around the lagoon again deciding it was just a bit too chilly for the water rides. DH & DD did Duelling Dragons and we all went on Poseidons Adventure.
We did a little shopping at Suess' Landing then as there was no queue at all decided to take a ride on Cat in the Hat. Even with no queue it took a while to get boarded with quite a delay between cars departing. We should have taken this as a warning as half way round it stopped dead!
Anyone who ever goes to Orlando is probably well accustomed to getting stuck for a short time on the rides. We were a bit concerned when we were still there 10 minutes later still watching the same disc spinning above our heads and beginning to feel a bit queasy. Thankfully they did stop the ride shortly after this and put the 'big' lights on. Still stuck we passed the time with our fellow 'prisoners' on the ride singing a few renditions of why are we waiting and laughing till we cried at a somebody who did an excellent Terminator impression pleading for the couch to release him (we never did see who this was but thanks if you read this I haven't laughed so much in ages)
Eventually after about 20 minutes in total an engineering crew came with chub keys to release us from the car so we could 'walk off' the ride. At the end of the walk we were met by half a dozen 'official' looking Universal Staff apologising profusely and handing out free fastpasss vouchers (I'm sure one was a lawyer
) I think they mistook my tears of laughter for distress and gave us a handful (actually am thinking about consulting claims direct as may have case for post traumatic stress)
As we'd pretty much done what we wanted in IOA by his time we decided to hop over to Universal Studios and use the fastpass vouchers over there instead. We stopped off at the Hard Rock Cafe on the way so DD & DH could pop into the store to stock up on t-shirt etc.
Again the crowds were much more bearable. We headed straight for Shrek and Jimmy Neutron then went off to Twister & The Mummy. As they didn't always take our fastpasses from us we were able to use some a couple of times so did most of the rides quite quickly.
Lunch was at Finnegans Bar & Grill where we listened to the Blues Brothers while we waited four our table. I recommend the onion haystack. We shared one as an appetiser it was delicious and we all really enjoyed the free soda bread & apple butter too.
Feeling stuffed from a larger than usual lunch we took a slow stroll to Earthquake and then Jaws. DS finally got the best score on Men in Black and was delighted. We passed on Back to the Future but did ET where we gave the 'passport' man ridiculous made up names for a laugh. Then we went back to Shrek for one last go before leaving.
We drove down to International Drive for a game of mini golf at Pirates Cove. As usual DS lost his ball countless times in the water. I think he just enjoys watching me paddling to get it back. Then as nobody was that hungry after a big lunch we went back to the hotel for a take out pizza and some TV so we could rest up for MGM
Me: Hoping crowds will start to lessen now
DH: Hoping for a lie in
DD: Hoping for some more retail therapy
DS: Hoping trousers still fit (have you checked out calorie value of powerade!)
Sunday 1st January
As we didn't get to bed till late we decided on a little bit of a lie in and Universal as it was so close to the hotel. We arrived at 11ish to find it fairly quiet. We had no specific plans for the day, and as it seemed most people were headed to Universal Studios we decided to go to IOA first.
It proved to be an excellent choice and was blissfully crowd free. As usual we headed straight for Hulk (I chickened out again) Dr Doom and Spiderman then took a stroll around the lagoon again deciding it was just a bit too chilly for the water rides. DH & DD did Duelling Dragons and we all went on Poseidons Adventure.
We did a little shopping at Suess' Landing then as there was no queue at all decided to take a ride on Cat in the Hat. Even with no queue it took a while to get boarded with quite a delay between cars departing. We should have taken this as a warning as half way round it stopped dead!
Anyone who ever goes to Orlando is probably well accustomed to getting stuck for a short time on the rides. We were a bit concerned when we were still there 10 minutes later still watching the same disc spinning above our heads and beginning to feel a bit queasy. Thankfully they did stop the ride shortly after this and put the 'big' lights on. Still stuck we passed the time with our fellow 'prisoners' on the ride singing a few renditions of why are we waiting and laughing till we cried at a somebody who did an excellent Terminator impression pleading for the couch to release him (we never did see who this was but thanks if you read this I haven't laughed so much in ages)
Eventually after about 20 minutes in total an engineering crew came with chub keys to release us from the car so we could 'walk off' the ride. At the end of the walk we were met by half a dozen 'official' looking Universal Staff apologising profusely and handing out free fastpasss vouchers (I'm sure one was a lawyer
) I think they mistook my tears of laughter for distress and gave us a handful (actually am thinking about consulting claims direct as may have case for post traumatic stress)As we'd pretty much done what we wanted in IOA by his time we decided to hop over to Universal Studios and use the fastpass vouchers over there instead. We stopped off at the Hard Rock Cafe on the way so DD & DH could pop into the store to stock up on t-shirt etc.
Again the crowds were much more bearable. We headed straight for Shrek and Jimmy Neutron then went off to Twister & The Mummy. As they didn't always take our fastpasses from us we were able to use some a couple of times so did most of the rides quite quickly.
Lunch was at Finnegans Bar & Grill where we listened to the Blues Brothers while we waited four our table. I recommend the onion haystack. We shared one as an appetiser it was delicious and we all really enjoyed the free soda bread & apple butter too.
Feeling stuffed from a larger than usual lunch we took a slow stroll to Earthquake and then Jaws. DS finally got the best score on Men in Black and was delighted. We passed on Back to the Future but did ET where we gave the 'passport' man ridiculous made up names for a laugh. Then we went back to Shrek for one last go before leaving.
We drove down to International Drive for a game of mini golf at Pirates Cove. As usual DS lost his ball countless times in the water. I think he just enjoys watching me paddling to get it back. Then as nobody was that hungry after a big lunch we went back to the hotel for a take out pizza and some TV so we could rest up for MGM
