TRAVELERS:
Me (DW), 38, the obsessive planner
DH, 41, glad to have it all planned for him
THE TRIP:
An impulsive 3 day trip WITHOUT the kids, our first solo trip in more than 8 years
ACCOMODATIONS:
HRH
Wed. May 5
Well it arrived all too soon, our last day
Our plan was to hit IOA at opening, repeat some of our favorite rides at both parks and have lunch at Hard Rock Cafe before heading to the airport. We woke, showered and dressed and packed up our things. Filled out the quick checkout card in the room and handed it in at the front desk. The woman thanked us for our stay and asked if we would like our CD sent to our home (they were out of them at the time). Great! Dropped our luggage in the car and headed for IOA.
We had opted to forgo coffee at the hotel based on our last 2 experiences, and stopped in at Croissant Moon Bakery instead. The coffee there was actually pretty good, and we decided to get breakfast sandwhiches as well. I must say the sandwhiches were large and the prices were a true bargain compared to the hotel's (LOL)! Finished up and thought about what we should hit first. "NO, absolutely not! I am NOT going on the Hulk again... alright, alright, maybe third time's a charm?" Not. I really don't understand it. This is a great rollercoaster. I can truly appreciate it, but for some reason it gives me a headache every time! Oh, well. The headache only lasts as long as the ride, so it wasn't about to ruin our last day. Onward!
Next we repeated Spiderman, and I'll tell you this ride got better each time we did it. I guess we were able to notice more of the fine details, plus I was now confident that DH wouldn't get sick. Fantastic ride! I wanted to repeat Fearfall and still couldn't get DH to go on so I did it solo again. Pretty cool. We didn't really want to get soaked today, but decided to repeat JPRA as we really liked this one and I didn't think it got us too wet the first time (kind of hard to tell when you're already soaked)! We enjoyed it again and barely got wet. Can't wait to take the kids on this. Checked out the Discovery Center for a few minutes, then headed to Dueling Dragons. I wanted to ride front row on Fire this time, as we had already done front row on Ice. My DH was feeling a little tired today and opted not to go on, so he went to grab a second cup of coffee at a little place we had found in JP, and off I went by myself.
What a fiasco! First I went through the express entrance, which is about a mile away from the regular one (okay I'm exaggerating, but not by much). Once inside, I found myself in a maze. There was NO ONE inside, and I couldn't find the rollercoaster! I thought I must be hallucinating, as I had already been on this ride twice before, but I kept going around in circles! Finally I heard some other lost souls asking "Is this a rollercoaster or just a maze?", so I knew it wasn't just me. Before I knew it I was outside and DH remarked how quick that was. I explained I couldn't find the rollercoaster, and he about rolled with laughter! "Okay, wise guy. How about you come with me and try to find it!" He declined, so I opted for the regular queue this time (there was only a 5 minute wait posted). Once again, no one in front of or behind me, and here I am in a maze again! I heard and even saw other people in different areas, but couldn't figure out how to get to them to follow them. I was getting a little angry at myself, figuring I had totally lost my mind, when I saw it! The actual rollercoaster! Yippee! Now if I could only figure out how to get to it! All in all I must have wasted a half hour between the time I first entered the express entrance 'til I actually got in line for front row Fire. I started talking to a couple in front of me and sheepishly said I had gotten "a little" lost coming through the queue, and he said,"Yeah, I know. Someone left all the exit doors open". Thank you, God! I wasn't losing my mind! Only waited about 5 more minutes for front row, being a single rider. Once again, it was awesome. One of my favorite rides of all time! Sadly said goodbye to IOA and exited.
We headed over to US to do a couple more things before we ran out of time. Repeated Twister, then checked the Horror Makeup show again but it was still closed. My DH really would have liked to see it, but we found out it was closed through Thurs. for refurb. Oh, well, next time. I suggested we do Jimmy Neutron again, but DH wasn't interested so I got to ride it in the moving seats this time. Not much of a difference, as far as I'm concerned, but I really like this ride. I guess being so familiar with the characters as my kids watch Nick all the time, I was really seeing it through their eyes. For the last ride of our trip I was planning on doing BTTF again, minus the sweating, green, nauseous DH. This was also one of my favorite rides. But on the way over to it I said, "Oh, we didn't do ET"! I wanted to check this out for the kids, but DH decided to sit out again, as he was afraid it was another simulator. He was really being a wimp today! I told him to go in the ET store and pick up some T-shirts for our girls. Anyway there was no attendant at the express entrance, as we found to be the case several times during our trip, so I went in the regular queue. Walked right through until the end where I ran into a throng of people waiting. Being pressed for time at this point, I ducked under the rope into Express, and wouldn't you know it an attendant appeared out of nowhere! "Hey, that's for Exress Pass only!" I showed him my room key and explained that I would have gone in the Express entrance if there had been an attendant to let me in. We made nicey nicey and I went on my way. For about a minute, when I found myself in line to have my name typed into the computer and pick up my passport. This process takes way too long, who's idea was this, anyway? Finally got on the ride. Not too much to say about it, it was pretty lame for me but I'm sure my kids would like it. I never even heard ET saying goodbye to anyone, but maybe I was too worried about the time and wasn't paying attention. I told my DH it was definitely NOT a simulator and he could have gone on, but he didn't miss much.
We were out of time so I didn't get to ride BTTF again, and we said goodbye to US and headed to Hard Rock Cafe. We thought this restaurant was REALLY cool! We got some chicken wings for an appetizer and both ordered the soup, which was out of this world! We were actually not that hungry at this point after having a big breakfast so we ate half of our sandwhich/burger and had the other half wrapped to eat on the plane. This time we remembered to take them with us! We wasted our last bit of time picking out a "Cool" HRC T-shirt for my MIL, who was watching our kids, then headed out. Took a last look at Citywalk, (I think I love it almost as much as the actual parks), and walked back to the hotel to the car. Our vacation was over, but what a great time we had! It went quick, but I was kind of missing my kids anyway, so it was time.
I am now planning our next trip for Sept. with the whole family!
Me (DW), 38, the obsessive planner
DH, 41, glad to have it all planned for him
THE TRIP:
An impulsive 3 day trip WITHOUT the kids, our first solo trip in more than 8 years
ACCOMODATIONS:
HRH
Wed. May 5
Well it arrived all too soon, our last day
Our plan was to hit IOA at opening, repeat some of our favorite rides at both parks and have lunch at Hard Rock Cafe before heading to the airport. We woke, showered and dressed and packed up our things. Filled out the quick checkout card in the room and handed it in at the front desk. The woman thanked us for our stay and asked if we would like our CD sent to our home (they were out of them at the time). Great! Dropped our luggage in the car and headed for IOA.
We had opted to forgo coffee at the hotel based on our last 2 experiences, and stopped in at Croissant Moon Bakery instead. The coffee there was actually pretty good, and we decided to get breakfast sandwhiches as well. I must say the sandwhiches were large and the prices were a true bargain compared to the hotel's (LOL)! Finished up and thought about what we should hit first. "NO, absolutely not! I am NOT going on the Hulk again... alright, alright, maybe third time's a charm?" Not. I really don't understand it. This is a great rollercoaster. I can truly appreciate it, but for some reason it gives me a headache every time! Oh, well. The headache only lasts as long as the ride, so it wasn't about to ruin our last day. Onward!
Next we repeated Spiderman, and I'll tell you this ride got better each time we did it. I guess we were able to notice more of the fine details, plus I was now confident that DH wouldn't get sick. Fantastic ride! I wanted to repeat Fearfall and still couldn't get DH to go on so I did it solo again. Pretty cool. We didn't really want to get soaked today, but decided to repeat JPRA as we really liked this one and I didn't think it got us too wet the first time (kind of hard to tell when you're already soaked)! We enjoyed it again and barely got wet. Can't wait to take the kids on this. Checked out the Discovery Center for a few minutes, then headed to Dueling Dragons. I wanted to ride front row on Fire this time, as we had already done front row on Ice. My DH was feeling a little tired today and opted not to go on, so he went to grab a second cup of coffee at a little place we had found in JP, and off I went by myself.
What a fiasco! First I went through the express entrance, which is about a mile away from the regular one (okay I'm exaggerating, but not by much). Once inside, I found myself in a maze. There was NO ONE inside, and I couldn't find the rollercoaster! I thought I must be hallucinating, as I had already been on this ride twice before, but I kept going around in circles! Finally I heard some other lost souls asking "Is this a rollercoaster or just a maze?", so I knew it wasn't just me. Before I knew it I was outside and DH remarked how quick that was. I explained I couldn't find the rollercoaster, and he about rolled with laughter! "Okay, wise guy. How about you come with me and try to find it!" He declined, so I opted for the regular queue this time (there was only a 5 minute wait posted). Once again, no one in front of or behind me, and here I am in a maze again! I heard and even saw other people in different areas, but couldn't figure out how to get to them to follow them. I was getting a little angry at myself, figuring I had totally lost my mind, when I saw it! The actual rollercoaster! Yippee! Now if I could only figure out how to get to it! All in all I must have wasted a half hour between the time I first entered the express entrance 'til I actually got in line for front row Fire. I started talking to a couple in front of me and sheepishly said I had gotten "a little" lost coming through the queue, and he said,"Yeah, I know. Someone left all the exit doors open". Thank you, God! I wasn't losing my mind! Only waited about 5 more minutes for front row, being a single rider. Once again, it was awesome. One of my favorite rides of all time! Sadly said goodbye to IOA and exited.
We headed over to US to do a couple more things before we ran out of time. Repeated Twister, then checked the Horror Makeup show again but it was still closed. My DH really would have liked to see it, but we found out it was closed through Thurs. for refurb. Oh, well, next time. I suggested we do Jimmy Neutron again, but DH wasn't interested so I got to ride it in the moving seats this time. Not much of a difference, as far as I'm concerned, but I really like this ride. I guess being so familiar with the characters as my kids watch Nick all the time, I was really seeing it through their eyes. For the last ride of our trip I was planning on doing BTTF again, minus the sweating, green, nauseous DH. This was also one of my favorite rides. But on the way over to it I said, "Oh, we didn't do ET"! I wanted to check this out for the kids, but DH decided to sit out again, as he was afraid it was another simulator. He was really being a wimp today! I told him to go in the ET store and pick up some T-shirts for our girls. Anyway there was no attendant at the express entrance, as we found to be the case several times during our trip, so I went in the regular queue. Walked right through until the end where I ran into a throng of people waiting. Being pressed for time at this point, I ducked under the rope into Express, and wouldn't you know it an attendant appeared out of nowhere! "Hey, that's for Exress Pass only!" I showed him my room key and explained that I would have gone in the Express entrance if there had been an attendant to let me in. We made nicey nicey and I went on my way. For about a minute, when I found myself in line to have my name typed into the computer and pick up my passport. This process takes way too long, who's idea was this, anyway? Finally got on the ride. Not too much to say about it, it was pretty lame for me but I'm sure my kids would like it. I never even heard ET saying goodbye to anyone, but maybe I was too worried about the time and wasn't paying attention. I told my DH it was definitely NOT a simulator and he could have gone on, but he didn't miss much.
We were out of time so I didn't get to ride BTTF again, and we said goodbye to US and headed to Hard Rock Cafe. We thought this restaurant was REALLY cool! We got some chicken wings for an appetizer and both ordered the soup, which was out of this world! We were actually not that hungry at this point after having a big breakfast so we ate half of our sandwhich/burger and had the other half wrapped to eat on the plane. This time we remembered to take them with us! We wasted our last bit of time picking out a "Cool" HRC T-shirt for my MIL, who was watching our kids, then headed out. Took a last look at Citywalk, (I think I love it almost as much as the actual parks), and walked back to the hotel to the car. Our vacation was over, but what a great time we had! It went quick, but I was kind of missing my kids anyway, so it was time.
I am now planning our next trip for Sept. with the whole family!
but it sure is nice to get away without the little ones sometimes
