Oh, The Places We’ll Go! From the “stars” to the “sea”: Universal, SeaWorld & beyond - Spring 2016

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thursday, April 28th

Today was set aside for a day at Islands of Adventure. We all roused ourselves fairly early in the morning to try and arrive as close to rope drop as possible. After showers and a quick breakfast at the villa, we headed out the door and were literally walking through the turnstiles as the park opened to guests.

As we made the short trip up the I4 (which was nice and quiet….an easy drive yet again ), we chatted about our personal must-do’s for the day, and formulated a plan to ensure everyone got a chance to experience what was important to them. As we made our way through the brilliantly themed Port of Entry, we decided to kick off our day at Spiderman and wasted no time in turning left toward Marvel Superhero Island.





The guys LOVE this ride and were super excited to head into the queue with a 5 minute posted wait. During the trip planning process, I had given some serious consideration to breaking out of my comfort zone and giving this attraction a try for the first time, but alas….I just wasn’t feelin’ it. I was happy to let the guys have their fun while I enjoyed the peacefulness of that area that you can only experience in those early morning hours .





I chatted with the ducks, who were not so patiently waiting for the churro cart to open.





I hardly had a chance to capture a few pictures when the guys were back at my side……they walked right on and were beaming like a pair of kids. What a great start. It could only be made better by the chance to meet Spidey himself, so while we were in the area, we stopped and got pictures with Marvel’s most famous super hero……with absolutely no line.

We have had excellent interaction with Spiderman on each of our previous visits, and this time was no exception. Jake, in particular, got a real kick out of this character meet: let’s just say this was much more up his alley than Mary Poppins and Dora the Explorer .


With Spiderman firmly crossed off the to-do list for the day, it made sense to continue on to Jurassic Park…….Jake’s favourite section in all of Universal. He’s been a dinosaur fanatic since he was old enough to talk, and the first movie he ever saw in the theatre was Jurassic Park III. He has seen all the movies so often, he knows the scripts literally word for word. He thinks the Jurassic Park area is dino-mite .





The guys beat a path to Jurassic Park River Adventure. The queue currently showed a five minute wait, and with the sun already blazing in the sky and temperatures poised to soar to the low 90’s, we knew it would grow MUCH busier as the day wore on. I am not ashamed to say I am drop-averse, so I am happy to watch from the splash zone and capture their fun on camera while they ride the actual ride.


I took their hats, wallets, and keys and headed over to watch for their big descent, and they danced off into the shady queue.


Watching……





…..splashdown!.......





…..and a pair of happy fellows .





I met them at the ride exit, and we got their ride photo added to our Photoconnect account.

We also got this picture as well, from the automatic kiosk where you scan your photo card and then get your family in place on the marked area while the picture delay counts down the seconds until the photo Is taken.

Our other must-do in Jurassic Park was to give Jake his first experience at the reasonably new Raptor Encounter, however it didn’t open until 10 am “or so” and we were still a tiny bit early. Since the guys were already kind of wet and lines for rides were low, we opted to double back to Toon Lagoon and have them take in Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls.





Steve still isn’t sure what he thinks about the theming of this ride…..as Jake so succinctly put it, “They really rip our Mounties, Mom”…..but Jake enjoys a good laugh (even if it’s at his own expense!) so he was eager to give it a try.





I found a great spot on the bridge to watch their big plunge, and within a few minutes, I saw them come splashing down from the top of the drop.





Their boat was going so fast…..I know my guys weigh a good lot put together, so that boat certainly had enough gravitational pull to be moving pretty rapidly just based on their bodies alone …..that they were just a blur as they passed by:





Their boat wound its way around through the balance of the ride, and I met them at the exit for pictures: first, the official ride photo….

…..and then one taken by moi. I was hoping it would better convey their level of sogginess (they were SOAKED to the skin) but instead, it just conveys “happy”. I guess that’s a good thing, too!





It was now past 10 am and we figured it was a good time to go to the Raptor Encounter. Again, this is another attraction that sees much longer waits earlier in the day so the sooner we could squeeze it in, the better off we would be. We joined the small line and were advised by a very friendly TM that the Raptor was just being fed and would be out to greet guests shortly. She estimated about 10 minutes, which elicited a round of exasperated sighs from a few people in front of us as they opted not to wait. They hopped over the barriers and headed off down the walkway, and our line got immediately shorter .





I was super happy that the Raptor focused almost solely on Jake on this visit….Steve and I had experienced it already, and we wanted this to be a memorable trip moment for the boy. For most of our interaction, the raptor was nuzzling Jake’s ear or breathing heavily on his head, and Jurassic Park fan that he was, he was SO impressed . He wasn’t sure what to expect from this attraction, really, but let’s just say any expectations that he DID have were blown out of the water. So fun, and such a great time for all of us .








While a Photoconnect photographer was at the attraction and taking pictures, there was also a separate TM who was offering to capture photos with guests’ personal cameras and cellphones. Surprisingly, our pictures taken by the TM with our little camera turned out better than those from Photoconnect. Go figure .


Toward the end of our interaction, the Raptor decided to nuzzle Jake’s ear one final time…..





…..and then let out a roar that startled us enough to send us running .





What great memories . So very worth the brief wait in line!


More to come…...

 

[ArwenMarie]

JP's drop is no joke. Love the ride but that was a one-and-done for me. Splash Mountain's drop is more my speed lol.

 

[dalmatian7]

A couple of days later another manager, who wasn't even there, said something to DD at work about 'ratting them out'. Her answer was 'either I handled it or the cops handled it, they should be grateful that it was me'.

Good for your daughters! Not to hijack, I love your grumpy cat stories because they remind me of an older version of my DD who is 5.

My gram had a white lincoln mark IV (I think) that was white with blue leather interior that had an 8 track player. once the console at my parents broke, it was the only place to play them. and for some reason I remember my parents had a conway twitty 8 track. when cleaning out my grandmother house we found a portable radio that played 8 tracks. Can you imagine dragging a bag full of those on a picnic/beach. I thought dragging CDs in a binder in the 90s was bad. hehehe.

Loving this report Gina. I swear once DD is tall enough for the big rides, we are taking on Universal. I like you vacation style - play hard and have great desserts!!

 

[Penguinempress]

You will love, love, LOVE Twistee Treat! Way better than DQ quality, WAY larger portions, and half the price. Even with the exchange rate factored in, its a huge value!!

Have you got another trip in the works just yet? And which part of the Great White North do you hail from? (maybe we're neighbours! LOL)

I just came back from a 2 week trip in April so nothing planned right now. I hope to do a trip report about it, I just need to find the time. We're not quite neighbors but I don't think we're too far (considering the size of the country!) - I'm from Oakville. Like you guys, we fly out of Buffalo on JetBlue (cheaper & so much easier than Toronto) so it's been extra fun seeing you write about familiar places at the start of the trip report (like the Walden Galleria & its Cheesecake Factory - both favorite places of mine!)

 

[c3h3a3r]

Wow - absolutely loving this report. Thank you for sharing

 

[heaven2dc]

I loved your pics of water attractions! Perfect timing We encountered the Raptor at Universal Studios Hollywood last October - needless to say my 8 yr old grandson almost had wet pants (but not because he'd just been on a water ride ) There were even a few adults (including myself) who backed away when the handler brought the Raptor out to "greet" the guests!

 

[Raeven]

I can't wait to do the raptop encounter, sadly by the time we got there last year the lines were quite long.

I might actually do the Jurassic Park River Adventure this year...I chickened out last year

 

[Monykalyn]

Gina-I was gonna be perfectly fine driving past this place (1/2 way point to Lake) but your trip report had me craving it....I'm sure you recognize the decor and glasses...although it seems last trip you didn't get the shakes in these fun glasses. Nutella for me and Snickers for the DD

That raptor encounter looks so fun!!

 

[Lynne G]

Aww man, all that good shakes and ice cream. All I got was a frappachino, small to treat myself tonight.

I remember when my kids and I went to Twistee, we each ordered our own, and each of us had to throw some of it away. Next time, we are splitting something, and that brownie one looks awesome.

Yep, weenie that I am, I do Jurasic once, Dudley once, and Popeye, several times. We pick one morning, and do all the wet rides to our content, then go back to the hotel, to freshen up and return to the parks dry. It is a fun morning. When it is cool, wet is not as much fun.

 

[Ritchielace]

Finally caught up. That ice cream is looking delicious right now. Cooking out in Cali and summers just getting started. Can't wait to get out to Orlando,our Universal doesn't have the cool raptor interaction. Jake looks like he was loving the Dino attention. Keep them coming. Love living varcariously through your adventures.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Good for your daughters! Not to hijack, I love your grumpy cat stories because they remind me of an older version of my DD who is 5.

My gram had a white lincoln mark IV (I think) that was white with blue leather interior that had an 8 track player. once the console at my parents broke, it was the only place to play them. and for some reason I remember my parents had a conway twitty 8 track. when cleaning out my grandmother house we found a portable radio that played 8 tracks. Can you imagine dragging a bag full of those on a picnic/beach. I thought dragging CDs in a binder in the 90s was bad. hehehe.

Ooooo...you're in so much trouble. Brace your self now, if she's like GC it's going to be a very interesting ride.

For those that don't know and probably don't care, Conway Twitty started out as a pop star, teen idol type and later became one of the cats in the country bag. That's my random, useless piece of info for today.
!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I just came back from a 2 week trip in April so nothing planned right now. I hope to do a trip report about it, I just need to find the time. We're not quite neighbors but I don't think we're too far (considering the size of the country!) - I'm from Oakville. Like you guys, we fly out of Buffalo on JetBlue (cheaper & so much easier than Toronto) so it's been extra fun seeing you write about familiar places at the start of the trip report (like the Walden Galleria & its Cheesecake Factory - both favorite places of mine!)

I actually am your neighbour. River Oaks resident here!

 

[pigletto]

Aww man, all that good shakes and ice cream. All I got was a frappachino, small to treat myself tonight.

I remember when my kids and I went to Twistee, we each ordered our own, and each of us had to throw some of it away. Next time, we are splitting something, and that brownie one looks awesome.

Yep, weenie that I am, I do Jurasic once, Dudley once, and Popeye, several times. We pick one morning, and do all the wet rides to our content, then go back to the hotel, to freshen up and return to the parks dry. It is a fun morning. When it is cool, wet is not as much fun.

What a good plan! Totally stealing this for our October trip! We'll hit all the wet rides for a morning and head back to Cabana Bay to change and come back later. Easier to do when staying onsite I suppose.
Gina, that Raptor encounter is so cute. Love Jake's "I'm outta here" face! I'm looking forward to my crew visiting with the raptor.

 

[Joanna71985]

We will keep our Seaworld AP's without hesitation as long as they keep offering them BOGO each Black Friday. Maybe even if they don't. But an annual pass to both Seaworld and Aquatica for less than a one-day SeaWorld ticket, its a no-brainer and a crazy good value!

I've never been to Aquatica before. But I'm seriously considering adding it on when I renew next year

 

[wiscbugs]

I am always amazed at how much fun you guys are having in all of your pictures. I hope our kids have as much fun with us when they are Jake's age!!!!

 

[Princess Leia]

You are bringing back some great memories! I loved Jurassic Park River Adventure.

In case anyone is interested they are doing the Hash House a Go Go offer at the moment on Travelzoo. So that's $20 for $40 food and drink or $39 for $80 food and drink. I also applied a new member discount that gave me $10 off so I paid $10 for $40 of food. Alan did the same. Gina you've taught us all well - our exchange rate is awful too at the moment!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

JP's drop is no joke. Love the ride but that was a one-and-done for me. Splash Mountain's drop is more my speed lol.

You are a better woman than I, my friend. Splash is totally out for me as well as Jurassic Park! Of course, Steve loves them both .

Good for your daughters! Not to hijack, I love your grumpy cat stories because they remind me of an older version of my DD who is 5.

My gram had a white lincoln mark IV (I think) that was white with blue leather interior that had an 8 track player. once the console at my parents broke, it was the only place to play them. and for some reason I remember my parents had a conway twitty 8 track. when cleaning out my grandmother house we found a portable radio that played 8 tracks. Can you imagine dragging a bag full of those on a picnic/beach. I thought dragging CDs in a binder in the 90s was bad. hehehe.

Loving this report Gina. I swear once DD is tall enough for the big rides, we are taking on Universal. I like you vacation style - play hard and have great desserts!!

I think we need matching t-shirts with that slogan for our October trip!!

I just came back from a 2 week trip in April so nothing planned right now. I hope to do a trip report about it, I just need to find the time. We're not quite neighbors but I don't think we're too far (considering the size of the country!) - I'm from Oakville. Like you guys, we fly out of Buffalo on JetBlue (cheaper & so much easier than Toronto) so it's been extra fun seeing you write about familiar places at the start of the trip report (like the Walden Galleria & its Cheesecake Factory - both favorite places of mine!)

You are correct, you're about 2.5 hours west of us.....but not ridiculously far away by any stretch. We have spent much time in Oakville during Jake's childhood for inline hockey and basketball.

Fingers crossed our exchange rate improves in the coming months and you can start planning for your next southern adventure. If you happen to start at trip report for your April vacation, be sure to post the link here so we can all join in!

Wow - absolutely loving this report. Thank you for sharing

Aw, thank you for the kind words! I have a lot of fun sharing our memories here, and am so grateful that so many fun people join in the chit chat along the way. Best post-vacation therapy EVER .

I loved your pics of water attractions! Perfect timing We encountered the Raptor at Universal Studios Hollywood last October - needless to say my 8 yr old grandson almost had wet pants (but not because he'd just been on a water ride ) There were even a few adults (including myself) who backed away when the handler brought the Raptor out to "greet" the guests!

I am so impressed with this new park attraction.....Universal has pulled it off marvellously. I especially love that it can be so much fun and yet isn't a ride.....something virtually everyone can enjoy!

I can't wait to do the raptop encounter, sadly by the time we got there last year the lines were quite long.

I might actually do the Jurassic Park River Adventure this year...I chickened out last year

Definitely try to take in the Raptor Encounter on your next trip. One nice thing about the line: it tends to move faster than you would expect because whole families go up at the same time .

Gina-I was gonna be perfectly fine driving past this place (1/2 way point to Lake) but your trip report had me craving it....View attachment 173213I'm sure you recognize the decor and glasses...although it seems last trip you didn't get the shakes in these fun glasses. Nutella for me and Snickers for the DD

That raptor encounter looks so fun!!

See? Those glasses just complete the experience for me . I think next time I will request that they use the dine-in glasses for our shakes versus the to-go cups. They look simply DELISH!!! (but here's an odd and useless fact about yours truly: I've never had Nutella. Someday, I will have to change that)

We indulged in ice cream last night, too:



I had a stinky work week and this was my "Yay! You made it" reward (though just to be clear, only the one on the bottom left was mine.....the guys ate the other two)

Aww man, all that good shakes and ice cream. All I got was a frappachino, small to treat myself tonight.

I remember when my kids and I went to Twistee, we each ordered our own, and each of us had to throw some of it away. Next time, we are splitting something, and that brownie one looks awesome.

Yep, weenie that I am, I do Jurasic once, Dudley once, and Popeye, several times. We pick one morning, and do all the wet rides to our content, then go back to the hotel, to freshen up and return to the parks dry. It is a fun morning. When it is cool, wet is not as much fun.

Steve and I could have easily shared the brownie boat....it was most certainly big enough for two (and definitely recommended.....soooo good!).

LOL, you count yourself as a weenie, but then what does that make me? I don't have the courage to do ANY of those!

Finally caught up. That ice cream is looking delicious right now. Cooking out in Cali and summers just getting started. Can't wait to get out to Orlando,our Universal doesn't have the cool raptor interaction. Jake looks like he was loving the Dino attention. Keep them coming. Love living varcariously through your adventures.

I hope the success of the Raptor Encounter in Orlando makes Universal Hollywood take note. They have duplicated the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Springfield on the west coast, so hopefully Raptor Encounter is the next to make it out your way!

Ooooo...you're in so much trouble. Brace your self now, if she's like GC it's going to be a very interesting ride.

For those that don't know and probably don't care, Conway Twitty started out as a pop star, teen idol type and later became one of the cats in the country bag. That's my random, useless piece of info for today.
!

Does that mean we will get a new random, useless piece of information from you EVERY day? (I, for one, would enjoy that daily post here......because nerd that I am, I thrive on that stuff! )

I actually am your neighbour. River Oaks resident here!

This reminds me.....we really should be revisiting the idea of a Niagara Dismeet this summer.

What a good plan! Totally stealing this for our October trip! We'll hit all the wet rides for a morning and head back to Cabana Bay to change and come back later. Easier to do when staying onsite I suppose.
Gina, that Raptor encounter is so cute. Love Jake's "I'm outta here" face! I'm looking forward to my crew visiting with the raptor.

I hope you guys love that new attraction as much as we do! Of course, it helps that we are huge Jurassic Park fans to begin with . Your fam might yawn and yell, NEXT!

I've never been to Aquatica before. But I'm seriously considering adding it on when I renew next year

Oh, Joanna....you have to go! It's so much FUN! Absolutely worth the add on: if we realize our dream to relocate to the Orlando area, I swear you'll find me in Roa's Rapids every weekend. No joke.

I am always amazed at how much fun you guys are having in all of your pictures. I hope our kids have as much fun with us when they are Jake's age!!!!

Yes, we do have a lot of fun together .... we are so blessed to still get so much joy from each other's company. It is my prayer that that never changes. We are all such different people (well, except Steve and Jake.....they are clones ) but somehow, we're still amazingly compatible!

You are bringing back some great memories! I loved Jurassic Park River Adventure.

In case anyone is interested they are doing the Hash House a Go Go offer at the moment on Travelzoo. So that's $20 for $40 food and drink or $39 for $80 food and drink. I also applied a new member discount that gave me $10 off so I paid $10 for $40 of food. Alan did the same. Gina you've taught us all well - our exchange rate is awful too at the moment!

Oh wow....thank you SO MUCH for sharing that! We have been given a gift card to Hash House for our October trip, so we already had a dinner planned for one of our days.....but perhaps now we will also add on a breakfast as well. That half price offer makes it a spectacular value, and we adore the Hash House cuisine. You rock!

 

[afan]

Found out this morning a Steak n Shake opened in downtown Seattle. So it's a bit different from the one's we are all used to but I will have to make my way there sometime this summer. This one serves local beer and what I read the menu might be smaller or different. Weird to have it out here and wish it was closer, I got spoiled having two within 10 minutes of my house in NC, but happier to be back living at home. If we could just get some Tim Horton's to open too I'd almost be set. Waiting for Firehouse Subs to get closer than 2 hours away and hoping someday Zaxby's will move west. Oh and In n Out north

 

[pigletto]

You are bringing back some great memories! I loved Jurassic Park River Adventure.

In case anyone is interested they are doing the Hash House a Go Go offer at the moment on Travelzoo. So that's $20 for $40 food and drink or $39 for $80 food and drink. I also applied a new member discount that gave me $10 off so I paid $10 for $40 of food. Alan did the same. Gina you've taught us all well - our exchange rate is awful too at the moment!

Thank you so much!!! This restaurant was on our list for October already and we are really looking forward to it. I bought the $80 voucher and also used the discount code. So $29 USD for $80. That should just about cover the four of us before tax and tip. Our voucher expires October 31st. We fly in the morning of the 29th so we will use it our first or second night. I am so excited! Thank you again!

Gina, we all love Jurassic Park and have seen all the movies many times. I think DS12 will especially love meeting the Raptor

 

[Penguinempress]

Fingers crossed our exchange rate improves in the coming months and you can start planning for your next southern adventure. If you happen to start at trip report for your April vacation, be sure to post the link here so we can all join in!

From predictions I've seen, the dollar is looking bad until late 2017, uggh. I'll just have to work on my trip report, keep saving my pennies and live vicariously through you! The raptor encounter looks like so much fun! Not sure if I missed it during my last Universal trip (May 2015) or if it wasn't open then.

I actually am your neighbour. River Oaks resident here!

Wow, it's a small world! I'm in Glen Abbey.