mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
- Messages
- 72,440
Castmembers
Me, Mandy Christmas Co-ordinator Extraordinaire/Mega-Planner
DH, Paul Driver, always goes with the flow, cant make important
decisions like where were going to eat
DD1, age 14 Jasmine/Tinker Bell mad
DD2, age 12 Thinks she likes Stitch more than me (but I do !!)
Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios
We bought our tickets before we left and got the 7 days for the price of 2, after we all agreed that Disney would probably be the busiest over the Christmas weekend, wed been on holiday for nearly a week before we went to Universal, which turned out be the right choice.
Islands of Adventure
As ever, we would arrive about ½ an hour before opening, we parked in the Preferred Parking area ($13 and just a bit nearer to the entrance) and usually 15 minutes before the stated park opening they would open the turnstiles. We visited IOA 3 times this holiday and we would always head straight to The Hulk. In total we rode it 9 times, with once being at the front (scary) and a couple of times at the very back (brilliant), then wed do SpiderMan (although once, the girls went off to do Dr Dooms Fearfall), then it was over to Duelling Dragons. I think we rode this 10 times doing 5 times on each side. The girls prefer Duelling Dragons, though hubby and I prefer The Hulk. We did a couple of other rides including the carousel one.
The crowds were pretty good a IOA throughout our visit, and it was only on our last one (last Thursday 29/12) that the lines were getting too busy and we were only able to do Duelling Dragons once on each side.
Brunch at IOA was always at the Coissant Moon, for Turkey/Beef/or Swiss cheese & ham coissants followed by cookies and danishes (yum !!)
Universal Studios
We were able to do US twice this holiday, as before we were there well before park opening, and then wed go straight to The Mummy. On both visits we rode it 3 times, its a great ride. We also rode Earthquake for the first time ever (it was OK nothing special), Jaws (bit dated), Men in Black (love it its much better than Buzz), Back to the Future (I dont know why I go on this, its so bumpy and uncomfortable), E.T. (love it), and Twister (good effects). The only thing that always seemed busy was Shrek, but we saw it last year and prefer Mickeys Philharmagic anyway, so we werent that bothered about missing it.
On both occasions we ate at Mels Diner, between us we had a couple of Double Cheeseburgers with fries and a couple of Chickenburgers with fries, 2 servings of onion rings and diet cokes/sprite. The food was always nice for a quick meal.
Our first visit to US was on Christmas Day, it was dry at first, but then it got a bit drizzly, other than that the park was empty, we rode all the rides we wanted with no waits at all, we thought that US would be quiet, but we never thought it would be THAT quiet. I would recommend Christmas Day here.
Me, Mandy Christmas Co-ordinator Extraordinaire/Mega-Planner
DH, Paul Driver, always goes with the flow, cant make important
decisions like where were going to eat
DD1, age 14 Jasmine/Tinker Bell mad
DD2, age 12 Thinks she likes Stitch more than me (but I do !!)
Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios
We bought our tickets before we left and got the 7 days for the price of 2, after we all agreed that Disney would probably be the busiest over the Christmas weekend, wed been on holiday for nearly a week before we went to Universal, which turned out be the right choice.
Islands of Adventure
As ever, we would arrive about ½ an hour before opening, we parked in the Preferred Parking area ($13 and just a bit nearer to the entrance) and usually 15 minutes before the stated park opening they would open the turnstiles. We visited IOA 3 times this holiday and we would always head straight to The Hulk. In total we rode it 9 times, with once being at the front (scary) and a couple of times at the very back (brilliant), then wed do SpiderMan (although once, the girls went off to do Dr Dooms Fearfall), then it was over to Duelling Dragons. I think we rode this 10 times doing 5 times on each side. The girls prefer Duelling Dragons, though hubby and I prefer The Hulk. We did a couple of other rides including the carousel one.
The crowds were pretty good a IOA throughout our visit, and it was only on our last one (last Thursday 29/12) that the lines were getting too busy and we were only able to do Duelling Dragons once on each side.
Brunch at IOA was always at the Coissant Moon, for Turkey/Beef/or Swiss cheese & ham coissants followed by cookies and danishes (yum !!)
Universal Studios
We were able to do US twice this holiday, as before we were there well before park opening, and then wed go straight to The Mummy. On both visits we rode it 3 times, its a great ride. We also rode Earthquake for the first time ever (it was OK nothing special), Jaws (bit dated), Men in Black (love it its much better than Buzz), Back to the Future (I dont know why I go on this, its so bumpy and uncomfortable), E.T. (love it), and Twister (good effects). The only thing that always seemed busy was Shrek, but we saw it last year and prefer Mickeys Philharmagic anyway, so we werent that bothered about missing it.
On both occasions we ate at Mels Diner, between us we had a couple of Double Cheeseburgers with fries and a couple of Chickenburgers with fries, 2 servings of onion rings and diet cokes/sprite. The food was always nice for a quick meal.
Our first visit to US was on Christmas Day, it was dry at first, but then it got a bit drizzly, other than that the park was empty, we rode all the rides we wanted with no waits at all, we thought that US would be quiet, but we never thought it would be THAT quiet. I would recommend Christmas Day here.
a great day 
).
