tweetylori
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2004
- Messages
- 772
Orlando Trip 7/17/04-7/25/04
Cast of Characters:
Me Travel Researcher/Planner 44
DH Bearer of Free Passes 43
DS 15, almost 16 huge game addict, very competitive
DSS 13, Stepsons first trip to Orlando!
DAY 2: Our Men in Black Day!
Our first full day in Orlando its a Sunday, and were gonna go do Universal and Islands of Adventure! DSS is the first one up and in the shower, followed by me, his father, and hiding under his covers, DS. Our hotel has free continental breakfast with one extra each day. Today its egg & cheese English-muffin sandwiches. Tasty. Their coffee is decent and so is the orange juice. This breakfast is a carb-addicts dream come true breads, and Danish and muffins and cereals.
Were off to Universal via the back way, since I-4 is always a nightmare! Were very glad to learn about this road. Our guess is that next time we come down itll be covered in hotels and will be a busy road, but now it is not! We get to Universal right before they open and my husband heads to Guest Relations to pick up two free two-park passes that he has waiting for him. I go to purchase 2 passes for the rest of us. They do not accept AAA or other discounts on these passes, by the way, claiming that they are already discounted, which is true, because a two-park one-day pass is $74. I buy two of them, with tax for $157. The park opens, we go through security and head straight to the back of the park to Men In
Black! Theres no wait, and we get right on and love it! DS and DH start off with very high scores. Me? Pitiful, but the day is not over! We get off, and get right back in line to do it again. Everyone of us loves this ride! Next we go over to Back To The Future, which I really dont like, cause it jerks you around too roughly without padding on the seats, but DSS wants to go on it, so who am I to deprive him? Both DH and I feel like theyve toned this ride down, cause it wasnt anywhere near as painful as it used to be.
Next up is ET, one of my personal favorites. Again, virtually no wait. Such a pleasant, peaceful ride, but its the only time Ive been on it where the passport part of it doesnt work, and ET doesnt say anyones name. So DSS didnt get the full effect of the ride. Oh well. Its a rather wimpy ride to the guys anyway, but I like it. By now, the park is starting to get more crowded, and lines are getting long, so we bypass a few. Jaws just isnt worth the wait, IMO, and the guys dont care about it. I convince them that a 20 min. wait for Earthquake isnt bad. A shared bag of cold m&ms out of a conveniently-placed machine in that line, doesnt hurt. We finally get on it, and the only car we could find room in was in the back. I guess Ive always been lucky before on Earthquake to sit in the middle, because I didnt even know that it has a lot less impact from the back, and probably from the front. You really need to be in the middle! So this one didnt impress anyone too much, darn it. By now were already hot as heck and thirsty. We stop to watch the Blues Brothers, who are quite good, and they have a female singer with them who is really good! There are characters dancing in the street on tall stilts. Fun, but were all wilting, so I suggest Finnegans Bar & Grill for a drink. As soon as we go in it and sit at the bar, a downpour occurs. I told the guys I was psychic. They came back with psychotic, so I became Psychotic Mom for the rest of the trip largely due to tips from Disboards! This was a smart move on our part, not only because we were out of the rain, but for just $2.25 a piece we could get all the soft drink we could drink (and my guys can consume many refills), and we were in air conditioning. DS and I shared an order of wings, and DH and DSS who wont eat anything on a bone (blasphemy!), share an onion webb, which was a fried mound of onions and potatoes. Both were tasty, and I remembered to pull out AAA for a 10% discount. So, we got two appetizers and four soft drinks for $25.00 (including tip). Best of all, we were well hydrated, cooled off, and the rain had stopped. Ready to move on!
By now the lines are long and the wait times are more than we care to endure, so we head over to Islands Of Adventure. DH and I had been there once before, but this was new to both kids, so we knew to take them straight to Spiderman. Of course, Spiderman had a long wait, but Psychotic Mom had read about the Single Rider lane! Brilliant advice! Obviously, this wouldnt work if you have small children, but ours are a great age for this. I felt bad for a young boy in front of us with his Mother and sister. He kept saying the whole time that he wouldnt go on it alone, and the Mom never even responded to him. I thought she was mean to take him through the Single Rider line if the kid was scared to be alone. Please, parents, dont torture your kids! Its supposed to be FUN. DH and DSS ended up in the same car anyway. I just love this ride! We got off, and got right back in the Single Rider line, and it was a short wait to do it again!
After two rides on Spiderman, we head to Jurassic Park. DSS is dying to go on a water ride. None of the rest of us care to get wet. We watch Jurassic Park River Adventure and the drop doesnt look too bad, and the riders dont seem to get too wet. Okay, well do it. I might add at this point, that except for my DH, the rest of us are ride-wimps. We dont do roller coasters or things that go high up. Wimps. Especially me. The grandest wimp of all time no, I take that back, that would be my Mother. By now, its starting to rain again, but who cares? Were going on a water ride anyway. Besides, were all sweaty, so whats the difference? We get in our boat and take off on a leisurely, slow ride around a few dinosaurs, but my anxiety level is going up. So, when I look ahead and see that were about to go UP, and I mean UP, I wanted to jump out of the boat. I do believe I mightve loudly proclaimed Im gonna die, on the way up, followed shortly by, Im gonna kill you, to my DSS. All I could do was close my eyes, and it was straight down! My stomach landed in my throat, and I literally couldnt move for a few seconds. Getting splashed was a RELIEF at that point. All I can say is, if you think that drop looks mild from the outside, its cause you cant see most of the drop from outside. Be warned!
Giddy with relief, and in disbelief, that wimpy-me actually did that, we wandered around Jurassic Park Discovery Center. The guys were trying to talk me into the Pterandodon Flyers. Yeah, right, me dangling up in the air? Relief again! To be told that adults could only ride with a small child, and the wait was an hour. Phew! Spared!
Now were off to The Lost Continent to wait 20 min. for Poseidons Fury. The wait is in air conditioning, but there is no where to sit, and the whole adventure involves standing. It was better than I had remembered from being there before. Interesting, but not worth a really long wait, and shouldnt be attempted if your feet hurt! We walk through Seuss Landing, which I think is so precious! We got in a relatively short line for The Cat In The Hat. About 15 min. I loved this! Its so whimsical and fun! DH & I decide we have to have Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts. Silly, I know, but thats us. By now its already after 4:00. We had been there since it opened, and were getting hungry and thirsty again. We decided to have an early dinner at Hard Rock Café. DSS has been the recipient of many Hard Rock t-shirts, but had never been in one. DH & I had picked up an All-Access pass for it, so we knew we wouldnt have to wait. On the way, we did Single Rider Spiderman one last time, and DH decided not to make us wait for him to do the Hulk Coaster.
At Hard Rock we flashed our All Access pass, feeling so important, even though there was only one party in front of us. Got right in and were taken upstairs. DH and I decided to split a Roast Beef sandwich and a Jerk Chicken Sandwich. DS and DSS got burgers. With two glasses of wine and three soft drinks, the total with tip was $62.95. Used AAA to get the 10% discount here also. Once again, the guys drank their bodyweight in soft drinks. We go to the store and use AAA to get DSS a hat that he wanted (on sale for $5), and a guitar pin for DH, who collects them.
Now its back to Universal Studios to hit some of the things we had missed before because of the long lines. We saw Terminator, which is always excellent. I really wanted to do Shrek and Jimmy Neutron because I hadnt been on those before, but the lines were ridiculous! Were not gonna stand in line for an hour for anything! Darn it if we dont find ourselves back at Men In Black. We had done it twice in the morning now was time for Single Rider Men In Black! We literally would get off, walk around, and go right back on, each time meeting up after the ride to compare scores and tips. Who liked which side better, who found what to shoot for the highest scores. DS continued to top us everytime. My goal was to get up over 200,000, which I finally did. DH and I ended up in the same car that managed to Suit Up at the end. Yeah! And both boys ended up getting this by the end of the night, as well. After riding this for oh, 11 times, DH wanted to catch The Mummy before it was too late. Mom-Wimp and her two Wimplettes, decided to wait in Finnergans bar while DH did Single Rider on the new scary ride. Two glasses of wine later, and several soft-drink refills, he was back, proclaiming that we really should try it. That it wasnt too roller-coaster-ish for us. Knowing that my DH knows me well, I decided to give it a try and DS went with me. We did Single Rider and it was quite a bit of a wait. Didnt move as fast as Men In Black. Of course, I was getting more terrified by the minute, and taking one look at the roller-coaster-ish car I was about to get in, didnt help. I cant tell you what the special effects are like, because I had my eyes closed the whole time. Its FAST. And the closest thing to a coaster that I care to go on. Meanwhile, DH and DSS have walked all the way back to MIB. By now my feet are killing me, but we had told them wed meet them there, so off we go. They had ridden it two times by the time we got to them, and we did two more before they closed it for the night. A couple times during the day MIB had technical problems. We felt sorry for anyone who had never ridden it before and didnt know that it wasnt operating correctly. They would never know how good the ride could be, and how much FUN! DH decided I had to have a stuffed Frank to remind us of our fun MIB day!
This is when the guys all confess that theyre suffering from horrible chafing issues. Well, psychotic Mom had offered her BodyGlide, and Blister stuff that she had brilliantly purchased to prevent such issues (thanks to Disboarders!!). They had not listened to me. I was doing fine in that area, but boy did my feet hurt! We were tired, sore and limped our way back to our car. Went back to the hotel to lick our wounds and crash.
Cast of Characters:
Me Travel Researcher/Planner 44
DH Bearer of Free Passes 43
DS 15, almost 16 huge game addict, very competitive
DSS 13, Stepsons first trip to Orlando!
DAY 2: Our Men in Black Day!
Our first full day in Orlando its a Sunday, and were gonna go do Universal and Islands of Adventure! DSS is the first one up and in the shower, followed by me, his father, and hiding under his covers, DS. Our hotel has free continental breakfast with one extra each day. Today its egg & cheese English-muffin sandwiches. Tasty. Their coffee is decent and so is the orange juice. This breakfast is a carb-addicts dream come true breads, and Danish and muffins and cereals.
Were off to Universal via the back way, since I-4 is always a nightmare! Were very glad to learn about this road. Our guess is that next time we come down itll be covered in hotels and will be a busy road, but now it is not! We get to Universal right before they open and my husband heads to Guest Relations to pick up two free two-park passes that he has waiting for him. I go to purchase 2 passes for the rest of us. They do not accept AAA or other discounts on these passes, by the way, claiming that they are already discounted, which is true, because a two-park one-day pass is $74. I buy two of them, with tax for $157. The park opens, we go through security and head straight to the back of the park to Men In
Black! Theres no wait, and we get right on and love it! DS and DH start off with very high scores. Me? Pitiful, but the day is not over! We get off, and get right back in line to do it again. Everyone of us loves this ride! Next we go over to Back To The Future, which I really dont like, cause it jerks you around too roughly without padding on the seats, but DSS wants to go on it, so who am I to deprive him? Both DH and I feel like theyve toned this ride down, cause it wasnt anywhere near as painful as it used to be.
Next up is ET, one of my personal favorites. Again, virtually no wait. Such a pleasant, peaceful ride, but its the only time Ive been on it where the passport part of it doesnt work, and ET doesnt say anyones name. So DSS didnt get the full effect of the ride. Oh well. Its a rather wimpy ride to the guys anyway, but I like it. By now, the park is starting to get more crowded, and lines are getting long, so we bypass a few. Jaws just isnt worth the wait, IMO, and the guys dont care about it. I convince them that a 20 min. wait for Earthquake isnt bad. A shared bag of cold m&ms out of a conveniently-placed machine in that line, doesnt hurt. We finally get on it, and the only car we could find room in was in the back. I guess Ive always been lucky before on Earthquake to sit in the middle, because I didnt even know that it has a lot less impact from the back, and probably from the front. You really need to be in the middle! So this one didnt impress anyone too much, darn it. By now were already hot as heck and thirsty. We stop to watch the Blues Brothers, who are quite good, and they have a female singer with them who is really good! There are characters dancing in the street on tall stilts. Fun, but were all wilting, so I suggest Finnegans Bar & Grill for a drink. As soon as we go in it and sit at the bar, a downpour occurs. I told the guys I was psychic. They came back with psychotic, so I became Psychotic Mom for the rest of the trip largely due to tips from Disboards! This was a smart move on our part, not only because we were out of the rain, but for just $2.25 a piece we could get all the soft drink we could drink (and my guys can consume many refills), and we were in air conditioning. DS and I shared an order of wings, and DH and DSS who wont eat anything on a bone (blasphemy!), share an onion webb, which was a fried mound of onions and potatoes. Both were tasty, and I remembered to pull out AAA for a 10% discount. So, we got two appetizers and four soft drinks for $25.00 (including tip). Best of all, we were well hydrated, cooled off, and the rain had stopped. Ready to move on!
By now the lines are long and the wait times are more than we care to endure, so we head over to Islands Of Adventure. DH and I had been there once before, but this was new to both kids, so we knew to take them straight to Spiderman. Of course, Spiderman had a long wait, but Psychotic Mom had read about the Single Rider lane! Brilliant advice! Obviously, this wouldnt work if you have small children, but ours are a great age for this. I felt bad for a young boy in front of us with his Mother and sister. He kept saying the whole time that he wouldnt go on it alone, and the Mom never even responded to him. I thought she was mean to take him through the Single Rider line if the kid was scared to be alone. Please, parents, dont torture your kids! Its supposed to be FUN. DH and DSS ended up in the same car anyway. I just love this ride! We got off, and got right back in the Single Rider line, and it was a short wait to do it again!
After two rides on Spiderman, we head to Jurassic Park. DSS is dying to go on a water ride. None of the rest of us care to get wet. We watch Jurassic Park River Adventure and the drop doesnt look too bad, and the riders dont seem to get too wet. Okay, well do it. I might add at this point, that except for my DH, the rest of us are ride-wimps. We dont do roller coasters or things that go high up. Wimps. Especially me. The grandest wimp of all time no, I take that back, that would be my Mother. By now, its starting to rain again, but who cares? Were going on a water ride anyway. Besides, were all sweaty, so whats the difference? We get in our boat and take off on a leisurely, slow ride around a few dinosaurs, but my anxiety level is going up. So, when I look ahead and see that were about to go UP, and I mean UP, I wanted to jump out of the boat. I do believe I mightve loudly proclaimed Im gonna die, on the way up, followed shortly by, Im gonna kill you, to my DSS. All I could do was close my eyes, and it was straight down! My stomach landed in my throat, and I literally couldnt move for a few seconds. Getting splashed was a RELIEF at that point. All I can say is, if you think that drop looks mild from the outside, its cause you cant see most of the drop from outside. Be warned!
Giddy with relief, and in disbelief, that wimpy-me actually did that, we wandered around Jurassic Park Discovery Center. The guys were trying to talk me into the Pterandodon Flyers. Yeah, right, me dangling up in the air? Relief again! To be told that adults could only ride with a small child, and the wait was an hour. Phew! Spared!
Now were off to The Lost Continent to wait 20 min. for Poseidons Fury. The wait is in air conditioning, but there is no where to sit, and the whole adventure involves standing. It was better than I had remembered from being there before. Interesting, but not worth a really long wait, and shouldnt be attempted if your feet hurt! We walk through Seuss Landing, which I think is so precious! We got in a relatively short line for The Cat In The Hat. About 15 min. I loved this! Its so whimsical and fun! DH & I decide we have to have Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts. Silly, I know, but thats us. By now its already after 4:00. We had been there since it opened, and were getting hungry and thirsty again. We decided to have an early dinner at Hard Rock Café. DSS has been the recipient of many Hard Rock t-shirts, but had never been in one. DH & I had picked up an All-Access pass for it, so we knew we wouldnt have to wait. On the way, we did Single Rider Spiderman one last time, and DH decided not to make us wait for him to do the Hulk Coaster.
At Hard Rock we flashed our All Access pass, feeling so important, even though there was only one party in front of us. Got right in and were taken upstairs. DH and I decided to split a Roast Beef sandwich and a Jerk Chicken Sandwich. DS and DSS got burgers. With two glasses of wine and three soft drinks, the total with tip was $62.95. Used AAA to get the 10% discount here also. Once again, the guys drank their bodyweight in soft drinks. We go to the store and use AAA to get DSS a hat that he wanted (on sale for $5), and a guitar pin for DH, who collects them.
Now its back to Universal Studios to hit some of the things we had missed before because of the long lines. We saw Terminator, which is always excellent. I really wanted to do Shrek and Jimmy Neutron because I hadnt been on those before, but the lines were ridiculous! Were not gonna stand in line for an hour for anything! Darn it if we dont find ourselves back at Men In Black. We had done it twice in the morning now was time for Single Rider Men In Black! We literally would get off, walk around, and go right back on, each time meeting up after the ride to compare scores and tips. Who liked which side better, who found what to shoot for the highest scores. DS continued to top us everytime. My goal was to get up over 200,000, which I finally did. DH and I ended up in the same car that managed to Suit Up at the end. Yeah! And both boys ended up getting this by the end of the night, as well. After riding this for oh, 11 times, DH wanted to catch The Mummy before it was too late. Mom-Wimp and her two Wimplettes, decided to wait in Finnergans bar while DH did Single Rider on the new scary ride. Two glasses of wine later, and several soft-drink refills, he was back, proclaiming that we really should try it. That it wasnt too roller-coaster-ish for us. Knowing that my DH knows me well, I decided to give it a try and DS went with me. We did Single Rider and it was quite a bit of a wait. Didnt move as fast as Men In Black. Of course, I was getting more terrified by the minute, and taking one look at the roller-coaster-ish car I was about to get in, didnt help. I cant tell you what the special effects are like, because I had my eyes closed the whole time. Its FAST. And the closest thing to a coaster that I care to go on. Meanwhile, DH and DSS have walked all the way back to MIB. By now my feet are killing me, but we had told them wed meet them there, so off we go. They had ridden it two times by the time we got to them, and we did two more before they closed it for the night. A couple times during the day MIB had technical problems. We felt sorry for anyone who had never ridden it before and didnt know that it wasnt operating correctly. They would never know how good the ride could be, and how much FUN! DH decided I had to have a stuffed Frank to remind us of our fun MIB day!
This is when the guys all confess that theyre suffering from horrible chafing issues. Well, psychotic Mom had offered her BodyGlide, and Blister stuff that she had brilliantly purchased to prevent such issues (thanks to Disboarders!!). They had not listened to me. I was doing fine in that area, but boy did my feet hurt! We were tired, sore and limped our way back to our car. Went back to the hotel to lick our wounds and crash.
. I liked the posiden's revenge show it was pretty good. I went on the cat in the hat ride that was ok. It reminded me of Roger Rabbit ride in 
