March Trip Report -- Part 11: Are You Ready to Get Wet?

[BarryHom]

March 11, 2001

The cast:
Me (the 29 year old)
Donna (aka Molokai Gram, didn't ask age, from Hawaii)
Ohai (Donna's DH, didn't ask age either, from Hawaii)

I met with Donna and Ohai in front of Hard Rock Live. Today, it was pretty deserted except for Donna and Ohai sitting by a table outside the venue. They were dressed for water riding. Donna had on kayaking pants and they both wore clothes that would dry off fast. The day was pretty warm. I think it was the warmest day out of all my vacation days.

We headed to Islands of Adventure. Ohai was carrying a backpack and Donna considered putting it in a locker. We walked up to the lockers. The floor was wet and some branches were on the floor. It kind of smelled too. Donna was going to get a locker, but they didn’t because of the sticker shock. They cost $5. Ohai decided to carry it. I then got a map from a gypsy man sitting on top of a barrel. He saw my DIS moderator shirt and he said, “Here’s the moderator, keeping things in check!”

Our first ride was on the Hulk. Ohai and I rode while Donna went shopping. Ohai and I used front of the line access and we got in row six. Ohai sat in the double-strap seat. During the ride, Ohai had his hands up. I’m glad he used deodorant!

After surviving the Hulk once again, we headed to the water rides. Last night, Jim had mentioned that he rode Ripsaw Falls first. Part of the queue is a little chilly. Jim said that if he was wet from another ride, then it would not be a pleasant day when he got to the chilly part. Ohai and Donna sat in the front part and I had the middle part to myself. Ohai sat in front. We got wet on this ride! Water flowed over the sides and onto our bodies! The water was pretty cold today too! We got our final soaking during the final drop. My backpack was the only thing that was dry!

We rode Popeye next. Donna and Ohai sat to either side of me. Boy, did we get wet on this one! The water was cold here too! At the beginning of the ride, a huge wave came up beside me, went over my head, and splashed me! I got a small taste of the water. It wasn’t Evian! During the ride Ohai lifted his butt off the seat when a big wave hit him. I think his butt was wetter than Donna’s or mine! So much for trying to avoid the water…

After the ride, we headed to Me Ship, the Olive. We climbed to the second floor and watched people for a while. We saw people getting nailed by the water flowing from the shipwrecked tugboat and from those who were armed with a squirt gun. Some riders had unbuckled their seatbelts and kept on changing seats to avoid the water. That’s a good way to get hurt on the ride!

After getting our fill of wetness, we headed to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center. We saw a raptor hatch. A few kids were trying to name the raptor. One of the kid’s fathers kept on yelling out a name! We also looked into a dinosaur egg and played around with Beasaur.

We had a noon meet at Storm Force Acceleratron, so we headed back to Marvel Super Hero Island. It was around 11:15 and we saw a lot of characters out. Spider-Man was signing autographs and posing for photos. A crowd was around him. One woman had a hug handbag. The Green Goblin came by and peeked into the woman’s handbag. Spider-Man pointed at the woman and told her the Green Goblin was looking in her handbag. The Green Goblin didn’t take anything and ran away. I also saw Rogue and Storm. I wanted to walk up to her and ask her if she was the Rogue from the Universal boards, but she had a huge crowd around her.

We then saw Dr. Doom. Donna has a thing for the good doctor, so we had to get a photo of her with him. First, we had to wait for three guys to pose with him. Dr. Doom had his arms crossed in front of his chest, so the three guys put on their shades and cross their arms across their chests too. Donna approached Dr. Doom and he put his hand on her head. This is the real reason why Donna is so short!

Donna and Ohai were getting hungry, so they got some snacks. They didn’t want to ride Spider-Man, but I did. I rode Spider-Man while they ate their snacks. I was on and off the ride in about 5 minutes using front of the line access. It’s good not to wait in the 45-minute line!

It was getting close to noon, so we headed to Storm Force Acceleratron for the meet. We waited for about 15 minutes and no one showed up. As we waited, I took a ride on Storm Force. Donna took a photo of me as I rode. I don’t think it is as bad as it looks.

After waiting, we headed to Mythos Restaurant for lunch.

Barry Hom
Moderator, Universal and Sea World Boards

Click HERE for interesting Universal Orlando information!

 

[Molokai Gram]

Aloha,

Yes, we did dress to get wait. I also wore a heavy tshirt that would not become transparent when wet. You would not believe the number of people we saw (especially women) wearing white on the water rides. What are they thinking??? When leaving Popeye, I saw a woman with white capri's and a thin white tshirt and she was soaked and totally exposed!

Shopping is more fun than the Hulk! There I said it! It is especially more fun when DH and Barry are not around to nag me to hurry up. I love to shop and did not get to do enough shopping on this vacation. Next time....

It was warm before we went on the water rides. I was ready. However, I forgot my one time water proof camera in the room. I had bought it in Hawaii just for this day and then left it in the room! Ohai and I did not get to ride the water rides last time. I enjoyed the themeing on Ripsaw Falls, but I wondered how many people today remember the cartoons it was based on? I was happy that this log ride has narrow logs like Splash Mountain in DL and not the wide ones like WDW. Of course I got in behind DH, I wrapped my small purse in my jacket and stuffed it under his tshirt and jacket. I told him to take off his jacket so we could keep it dry, but he knew better I scunched up close and my stuff stayed dry...he was totally drenched. I was a sweet wife and thanked him for keeping my stuff dry. He did not say "you're welcome". LOL

I really enjoyed the ride. My sunglasses got wet in the drop and so I was unable to see the end very well. Can anyone tell me what I missed?

Popeye was a ball! I laughed the entire ride, even when getting dumped on! I was glad I decided to continue to keep my hair up instead of down as DH had suggested. Rather a wet old lady with a bun than a wet witch! You cannot keep dry on this ride. So many unexpected water sources! According to Kelly Monaghan's book, <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The heavier the raft, the faster the ride... [/quote] Our raft was very swift, enough said!

We spent a long time on the Me Ship, the Olive. It seemed that everyone shooting the water felt it was their duty to be sure to hit the people who had so far escaped getting soaked. Equal water for all! It was so funny, people who were relatively dry in the raft would be razzing the others in the raft and then these kids on the Olive would shoot them and get them just as wet! The urge to shoot water on strangers is irresitible!

Barry is right. It was all Dr. Doom's fault. I was a tall, thin woman before he squashed me.

I kept looking for people at the meets. I was so tempted to approach people and ask if they were there for the meet. Were there any lurkers?

Thanks Jim for the hint to ride Ripshaw Falls first. It was chilly through the queue.

Aloha,
Donna