Motherfletcher
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=peach
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2003
- Messages
- 3,823
We hadn't intended to go to Universal when we left home 5 AM Saturday. Busch Gardens was the destination that we came up with the night before. When we loaded the van it was a little fresh but shorts were comfortable, but when we got to Tampa it was COLD. We had to visit Kmart for coats, hats and gloves.
We were at the gates(first) when it opened and ran to Gwazi which was down. We went to Montu and the kids did the front seat. I bought the picture while they rode it again. We went to Skyride and it was down. We returned to Gwazi which was now running and my daughter got off looking like her dog died. She lost her Dolphin knit cap.
We treked on to Kumba, Python and Scorpion. With the coasters out of the way we went to the Haunted Lighthouse show which is like Shrek. Then we went to a new show, "Big Bird's Beach Party". That made Barney look good. We went on to the ice skating show, the birds of prey and then the Rhino Rally. This is the first queue we encountered and it had a 45 minute wait. The park was full by now so we decided to check into the hotel that I got from Hotwire ($37) the night before. La Quinta on Fowler west of McKinley. Nice place. big clean room. Since BG was open until 8 I had intended to return but my son got involved in the Florida/Florida State football game so we didn't. We rented Pirates of the Caribean and I promptly went to sleep.
I woke up at 4 and couldn't get back to sleep so I took a bath. While in the tub it came to me that USO is only 90 minutes away and we could easily make it for the park opening. I got the kids up at 6, ate their free continental breakfast (that included hard boiled eggs?) and left for USO. Traffic was light until we got to Orlando and exiting at 535 we made it to the parking garage in 75 minutes.
We kind of wondered how good of a tour we would have because it being Thanksgiving weekend and we were without FOTL. We resorted to our Commando Plan and at opening (12 minutes early) the kids ran to Hulk and got the front seat. I bought that picture too, while they rode again. On to Spidey and it had been such a long time since we had been in the regular line that we got lost. Spidey down we headed to JP and had to share the car with 2 other guys. They were staying at HRH and they stopped to do express while we did the regular line and beat them. The kids sat in the front seat. I sat in back and the 2 guys sat ahead of me. They had never been on it and thought they were getting on the P Flyers. They and the kids got soaked. We went on to DD and they rode both Fire and Ice. We had an encounter with the talking fountain that my kids are still laughing about since Rocky made fun of Daddy. We stopped and read the menu at Mytho's but it was too early to eat. We went to Mt. Crumpit where I confessed to the attendant that my daughter was 10 but we bought her a fake I.D. so she and my son could ride. She laughed and let them go. This was slow loading and had a 4-5 minute wait. I went to the landing area to take a picture and the next five rafts did not have a passenger less than 9. I said something to the attendant and she said something on the order of "Here, they are all kids." so I could have rode it. We went to CITH. All this before 10:30!
We left IOA for US and did MIB single riders then together on the baby swap trail as FOTL guests. It was getting pretty busy so we wandered through Amity to pictures with Santa Claus in NY. We went on to Mel's for burgers then to Horror Make-up. It had been so long that the kids forgot about this show. It was funny. After that we walked to stake Flyfly's claim to the GB Xtreme. They did a cute Christmas show.
We stopped at the Twister store to get Mom some chickens for her collection as Christmas presents. We stopped at the exit to JN and had a rolling on the floor good time with Spongebob. I grabbed his nose and he sneezed on me and I fussed like my hand was covered with snot and wiped it on him and we proceeded to wrestle each other to the floor. I thought his handlers were going to die laughing. Then the ride let out so we scrambled to our feet & split.
We had one more character encounter with Woody and Wendy. I took off my coat for the picture and was wearing a denim shirt with a large Woody puff patch and that impressed him no end. He chased me down and started rubbing my back and nodding his head. Since no one was around I had to tell him, "Get off my back!" My son thought that was hilarious.
We left by 2 and was able to hit all the headliners at IOA and a few at US on a "busy"day.
We were at the gates(first) when it opened and ran to Gwazi which was down. We went to Montu and the kids did the front seat. I bought the picture while they rode it again. We went to Skyride and it was down. We returned to Gwazi which was now running and my daughter got off looking like her dog died. She lost her Dolphin knit cap.
We treked on to Kumba, Python and Scorpion. With the coasters out of the way we went to the Haunted Lighthouse show which is like Shrek. Then we went to a new show, "Big Bird's Beach Party". That made Barney look good. We went on to the ice skating show, the birds of prey and then the Rhino Rally. This is the first queue we encountered and it had a 45 minute wait. The park was full by now so we decided to check into the hotel that I got from Hotwire ($37) the night before. La Quinta on Fowler west of McKinley. Nice place. big clean room. Since BG was open until 8 I had intended to return but my son got involved in the Florida/Florida State football game so we didn't. We rented Pirates of the Caribean and I promptly went to sleep.I woke up at 4 and couldn't get back to sleep so I took a bath. While in the tub it came to me that USO is only 90 minutes away and we could easily make it for the park opening. I got the kids up at 6, ate their free continental breakfast (that included hard boiled eggs?) and left for USO. Traffic was light until we got to Orlando and exiting at 535 we made it to the parking garage in 75 minutes.
We kind of wondered how good of a tour we would have because it being Thanksgiving weekend and we were without FOTL. We resorted to our Commando Plan and at opening (12 minutes early) the kids ran to Hulk and got the front seat. I bought that picture too, while they rode again. On to Spidey and it had been such a long time since we had been in the regular line that we got lost. Spidey down we headed to JP and had to share the car with 2 other guys. They were staying at HRH and they stopped to do express while we did the regular line and beat them. The kids sat in the front seat. I sat in back and the 2 guys sat ahead of me. They had never been on it and thought they were getting on the P Flyers. They and the kids got soaked. We went on to DD and they rode both Fire and Ice. We had an encounter with the talking fountain that my kids are still laughing about since Rocky made fun of Daddy. We stopped and read the menu at Mytho's but it was too early to eat. We went to Mt. Crumpit where I confessed to the attendant that my daughter was 10 but we bought her a fake I.D. so she and my son could ride. She laughed and let them go. This was slow loading and had a 4-5 minute wait. I went to the landing area to take a picture and the next five rafts did not have a passenger less than 9. I said something to the attendant and she said something on the order of "Here, they are all kids." so I could have rode it. We went to CITH. All this before 10:30!
We left IOA for US and did MIB single riders then together on the baby swap trail as FOTL guests. It was getting pretty busy so we wandered through Amity to pictures with Santa Claus in NY. We went on to Mel's for burgers then to Horror Make-up. It had been so long that the kids forgot about this show. It was funny. After that we walked to stake Flyfly's claim to the GB Xtreme. They did a cute Christmas show.
We stopped at the Twister store to get Mom some chickens for her collection as Christmas presents. We stopped at the exit to JN and had a rolling on the floor good time with Spongebob. I grabbed his nose and he sneezed on me and I fussed like my hand was covered with snot and wiped it on him and we proceeded to wrestle each other to the floor. I thought his handlers were going to die laughing. Then the ride let out so we scrambled to our feet & split.
We had one more character encounter with Woody and Wendy. I took off my coat for the picture and was wearing a denim shirt with a large Woody puff patch and that impressed him no end. He chased me down and started rubbing my back and nodding his head. Since no one was around I had to tell him, "Get off my back!" My son thought that was hilarious.
We left by 2 and was able to hit all the headliners at IOA and a few at US on a "busy"day.
