WebmasterBarry
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
March 10, 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)
The meet was scheduled at 8:30. I had woken up at 6:30 and had my donut breakfast. The news had said it was 55 degrees, so I put on a long-sleeved shirt. I packed up and took all my bags down to the car.
I tried to get out of the parking garage. I swiped my room key many times, but the gate did not open. I still had my parking stub, so I guess I will have to pay for parking. I was not too thrilled because I had read the sign in the parking lot. 0 to 2 hours was $6. 12 hours was $17. My total would probably be around $34! Valet parking would have been less. I paid for parking at the parking cashier and it costs me $6. That was a lot more reasonable! I got an exit key to use. It took several swipes for that to work. I was just glad to be out of the garage!
I drove to the main parking garage. I didnâÂÂt want to deal with the Portifino parking garage anymore. As I was walking to the parks, I realized that I could have parked in the Hard Rock Hotel parking lot. I was going to check in there later, so it would have been more convenient to park over in that lot. I didnâÂÂt feel like walking back and moving the car.
I was directed to Jaws 217. When I got into the parking lot, it was getting too warm for the long-sleeved shirt. I had to take it off and toss it in my car. I walked from the parking lot to Hard Rock Live. I thought Hard Rock Live would be deserted at this time. Then I saw a huge group of people. I didnâÂÂt think the Universal meet would have this many people. I noticed that there was a band competition going on at the place. This made it harder for me to find Universal meet attendees.
Donna and Ohai came around 8:30. We waited for attendees to show up, but we didnâÂÂt see anyone else. I had a DIS t-shirt on and I was certain that would help identify me. We waited for about 15 minutes and headed to Islands of Adventure.
Donna and Ohai did not have breakfast, so they stopped by the Crescent Moon Bakery. Ohai had the breakfast sandwich (which was $4.25) and coffee (about $1.75). Donna and a donut and one of those huge cookies. Those cookies are huge and very delicious! I would have liked one of those for breakfast, but I had my fill of donuts.
While Donna and Ohai ate their breakfast, I took a ride on the Hulk. The wait was about 15 minutes. I thought that would be just for the front, but the wait for the other rows were 15 minutes. I was regretting not using front of the line. I got on and rode in row 8. I told Donna I would be riding in the back and she was going to take a photo, but she could not see me.
After waking up on the Hulk, we headed to Spider-Man. We used front of the line access for this. The Universal Express queue did cut through the main Spider-Man queue. The Express queue had the four news articles on several villiansâ rampage and went through the darkroom. After the darkroom, you could peek around the corner and see the newsroom, but the line turned through a door and up the old VIP ramp. Another door was the single rider line, which wasnâÂÂt open at the time. We were waiting for car 118 to come, but we didnâÂÂt get it. We rode in the second row. Donna felt a little woozy after the ride and said that it was not a good idea to eat breakfast and ride Spider-Man. IâÂÂve never had that problem, not even on the Hulk. I did almost get sick on Dueling Dragons last month!
Donna said that she wanted to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure next. We passed by the water rides at Toon Lagoon, but Donna wanted to ride them tomorrow since it would be warmer.
We could have used front of the line on Jurassic Park River Adventure, but the wait was 0 minutes. Why bother? It appeared that everything was working on the ride. The T-Rex at the end was well-covered. The Ultrasaur was not there and a bunch of bushes covered where he should be. They did play sounds of wild animals from the bushes. We were all seated in third row. A group of kids in the second row didnâÂÂt want to get wet. One kid pulled his shirt up to his nose and pulled his head in whenever he thought that he would get wet! The photo at the end was the funniest IâÂÂve seen. A mother in front was holding onto her two kids. The kids in the second row were all ducking. The one kid pulled his shirt all the way up to his forehead. You could only see a small part of his hair! Ohai had his hands up! We will have to get Ohai on a roller coaster later.
We took a walk to Cat in the Hat. As we passed by One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, we were surprised that it had a Universal Express line. We were kind of confused why we couldnâÂÂt use front of the line for that ride. The regular wait was 30 minutes. I donâÂÂt think I could stand waiting in the line and listening to the tune!
The wait for Cat in the Hat was 0 minutes. We did not use front of the line for this one. We had a tight fit in the car since all three of us were in the front. The ride was working pretty well. We stopped twice. I donâÂÂt think there was a problem with the ride. I thought that a disabled guest might have been loading or unloading. Thing 1 and Thing 2 had nice, combed hair. They must have used troll doll combs on them. One addition I did notice were new doors. Right before the car entered the closet, two sliding doors opened. I donâÂÂt think IâÂÂve ever seen that. The exit doors for the closet were opened, though. They seemed to have been designed to open, but IâÂÂve always seen them propped open.
We had some time before the noon Men in Black meet, so we decided to go over for a few practice rounds. Before we did, we stopped by the Universal Trading Post shop in the Port of Entry. Donna wanted to buy the souvenir video and some other things. She noticed a amber candy lollipop with a bug in it. She had the idea that if she rode the Hulk, IâÂÂd eat the bug candy. It didnâÂÂt look that bad, so I agreed. SheâÂÂd have to buy it, though!
We headed to Universal Studios for the Men in Black shoot-off.
Barry Hom
Moderator, Universal and Sea World Boards
Click HERE for interesting Universal Orlando information!
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)
The meet was scheduled at 8:30. I had woken up at 6:30 and had my donut breakfast. The news had said it was 55 degrees, so I put on a long-sleeved shirt. I packed up and took all my bags down to the car.
I tried to get out of the parking garage. I swiped my room key many times, but the gate did not open. I still had my parking stub, so I guess I will have to pay for parking. I was not too thrilled because I had read the sign in the parking lot. 0 to 2 hours was $6. 12 hours was $17. My total would probably be around $34! Valet parking would have been less. I paid for parking at the parking cashier and it costs me $6. That was a lot more reasonable! I got an exit key to use. It took several swipes for that to work. I was just glad to be out of the garage!
I drove to the main parking garage. I didnâÂÂt want to deal with the Portifino parking garage anymore. As I was walking to the parks, I realized that I could have parked in the Hard Rock Hotel parking lot. I was going to check in there later, so it would have been more convenient to park over in that lot. I didnâÂÂt feel like walking back and moving the car.
I was directed to Jaws 217. When I got into the parking lot, it was getting too warm for the long-sleeved shirt. I had to take it off and toss it in my car. I walked from the parking lot to Hard Rock Live. I thought Hard Rock Live would be deserted at this time. Then I saw a huge group of people. I didnâÂÂt think the Universal meet would have this many people. I noticed that there was a band competition going on at the place. This made it harder for me to find Universal meet attendees.
Donna and Ohai came around 8:30. We waited for attendees to show up, but we didnâÂÂt see anyone else. I had a DIS t-shirt on and I was certain that would help identify me. We waited for about 15 minutes and headed to Islands of Adventure.
Donna and Ohai did not have breakfast, so they stopped by the Crescent Moon Bakery. Ohai had the breakfast sandwich (which was $4.25) and coffee (about $1.75). Donna and a donut and one of those huge cookies. Those cookies are huge and very delicious! I would have liked one of those for breakfast, but I had my fill of donuts.
While Donna and Ohai ate their breakfast, I took a ride on the Hulk. The wait was about 15 minutes. I thought that would be just for the front, but the wait for the other rows were 15 minutes. I was regretting not using front of the line. I got on and rode in row 8. I told Donna I would be riding in the back and she was going to take a photo, but she could not see me.
After waking up on the Hulk, we headed to Spider-Man. We used front of the line access for this. The Universal Express queue did cut through the main Spider-Man queue. The Express queue had the four news articles on several villiansâ rampage and went through the darkroom. After the darkroom, you could peek around the corner and see the newsroom, but the line turned through a door and up the old VIP ramp. Another door was the single rider line, which wasnâÂÂt open at the time. We were waiting for car 118 to come, but we didnâÂÂt get it. We rode in the second row. Donna felt a little woozy after the ride and said that it was not a good idea to eat breakfast and ride Spider-Man. IâÂÂve never had that problem, not even on the Hulk. I did almost get sick on Dueling Dragons last month!
Donna said that she wanted to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure next. We passed by the water rides at Toon Lagoon, but Donna wanted to ride them tomorrow since it would be warmer.
We could have used front of the line on Jurassic Park River Adventure, but the wait was 0 minutes. Why bother? It appeared that everything was working on the ride. The T-Rex at the end was well-covered. The Ultrasaur was not there and a bunch of bushes covered where he should be. They did play sounds of wild animals from the bushes. We were all seated in third row. A group of kids in the second row didnâÂÂt want to get wet. One kid pulled his shirt up to his nose and pulled his head in whenever he thought that he would get wet! The photo at the end was the funniest IâÂÂve seen. A mother in front was holding onto her two kids. The kids in the second row were all ducking. The one kid pulled his shirt all the way up to his forehead. You could only see a small part of his hair! Ohai had his hands up! We will have to get Ohai on a roller coaster later.
We took a walk to Cat in the Hat. As we passed by One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, we were surprised that it had a Universal Express line. We were kind of confused why we couldnâÂÂt use front of the line for that ride. The regular wait was 30 minutes. I donâÂÂt think I could stand waiting in the line and listening to the tune!
The wait for Cat in the Hat was 0 minutes. We did not use front of the line for this one. We had a tight fit in the car since all three of us were in the front. The ride was working pretty well. We stopped twice. I donâÂÂt think there was a problem with the ride. I thought that a disabled guest might have been loading or unloading. Thing 1 and Thing 2 had nice, combed hair. They must have used troll doll combs on them. One addition I did notice were new doors. Right before the car entered the closet, two sliding doors opened. I donâÂÂt think IâÂÂve ever seen that. The exit doors for the closet were opened, though. They seemed to have been designed to open, but IâÂÂve always seen them propped open.
We had some time before the noon Men in Black meet, so we decided to go over for a few practice rounds. Before we did, we stopped by the Universal Trading Post shop in the Port of Entry. Donna wanted to buy the souvenir video and some other things. She noticed a amber candy lollipop with a bug in it. She had the idea that if she rode the Hulk, IâÂÂd eat the bug candy. It didnâÂÂt look that bad, so I agreed. SheâÂÂd have to buy it, though!
We headed to Universal Studios for the Men in Black shoot-off.
Barry Hom
Moderator, Universal and Sea World Boards
Click HERE for interesting Universal Orlando information!
Maybe they are too old?
