"So what happened after the dragon?" a Feb '17 Universal TR - Final POSTS - May 19th!
- Thread starter skier_pete
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ChipDale
Earning My Ears
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But I tried to calm myself. We sat there on a rock wall, and I finally decided to do something about it.
Yes, I ordered a very, very strong alcoholic drink. I watched the lady pour it, and there was a good 4 shots in there. It was quite alcoholic, and it managed to calm my nerves.
Everything's better with alcohol.
I am enjoying your reports - thanks for sharing! (Nice to see another MST3K fan too! )
skier_pete
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I guess I feel like that one step beyond for Disney. I mean, I have no issue with having exclusive events and experiences, but I have always been pleased that ride experiences at Disney are a case of "admission to the park gets me on the ride". I hope they don't cross that bridge, because it would really lessen my enjoyment. (You know this particular thing annoys the heck out of me.)
Well thank you, that's very nice of you to say. Are you specifically talking about the Harry Potter pix? I actually was disappointed when I got home in how few pictures I took. I'm usually much better about this, but I think the fact I had to keep locking/putting the camera away sort of hurt the number of pictures I took. I am planning a more concerted effort when I get back in February (and maybe November also). You also notice I shoot "up" a lot...basically I don't like people in my shots, and the HP lands are full of people, so i tended to take pictures of things above the people.
Everything's better with alcohol.
Well, I am not really a big drinker - but definitely sometimes a drink can let you relax in a stressful situation. I think everyone agreed I was much happier after that.
Yes - I had to take a picture of myself with the shirt in front of the T-Rex for a friend! Very excited for the new season coming to Netflix April 14th. (Everyone should check it out!!! )
franandaj
I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
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Sounds like a somewhat tense day overall, glad the drink helped to lighten things up.
You're always good at showing the value and analyzing costs. I never thought about the hopper from that standpoint. We just got a one day ticket so it wasn't a huge increase.
I always find it hard to get my value from a ticket at US/IOA because there are so many rides I can't do because of the screens and motion simulators.
You're always good at showing the value and analyzing costs. I never thought about the hopper from that standpoint. We just got a one day ticket so it wasn't a huge increase.
I always find it hard to get my value from a ticket at US/IOA because there are so many rides I can't do because of the screens and motion simulators.
khertz
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I can totally understand being frustrated with everyone ready to call it a day after only 4 rides!! I'm glad that beverage helped turn your frown upside down. 
If she's too old for it, what am I?! lol I thought it was really cool too!!
If she's too old for it, what am I?! lol I thought it was really cool too!!
skier_pete
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Sorry for the lack of updates - I was off in Arizona visiting my mom, and though I intended to update there I never got around to it...but I'm still going!
Day 5- Wednesday
It dawned grey and overcast. We knew the rain was coming, just not sure exactly when. The radar seemed to indicate somewhere around 2 PM. So we decided that we would continue our rope drop policy. DMIL stayed behind today – we only bought a 2-day pass for her – and we were going to knock out more of the rides that she couldn’t go on. We left the house a teeny bit later than the day before, it was probably 8:05 AM. We got to the park with plenty of time. This time, we were going to hit IOA first, and try and take out the “big three” – Spiderman, Kong and Forbidden Journey.
We were there for rope drop. Here’s the rope as proof.
They were running the hulk coaster over and over with no-one on it. Every once in a while there would be a couple passengers. I asked the TM how they were getting on the ride. They wouldn’t tell me.
We entered Marvel Island. You can see it was pretty empty.
Spiderman was our first stop, and we literally got loaded onto the second car of the day. The ride is still a fun blast of entertainment. It hasn’t changed much in my memory in the 17 years since, but I guess they upgraded it since then. It’s still a fun ride.
Next we headed over to Kong. We had some fun with the signs in Toon Lagoon on the way:
DW liked these Secret Life of Pets signs as well:
And this one she wanted to put up at her work:
The Skull Island ride is definitely impressive from the outside, though oddly enough you sort of can’t see too much of it. Perhaps this is on purpose, because if they showed too much it would fall apart.
The queue completely terrified DD, to the point that she refused to go on the ride. The CM at Sanaa had mentioned the scare actors, so she was terrified someone would jump out at her. (She doesn’t do haunted houses in case you are wondering. ) Fortunately, no one did jump out- I find this type of thing more annoying than frightening anyways – I think humanity doesn’t get that there’s a difference between being surprised and frightened. Any of these haunted house / jump scares are not frightening. I am not scared that this person is going to harm me or do anything to me, I’m simply surprised that someone jumped out at me. I get no thrill out of being surprised. That said, it might be a cool effect in a line queue.
Anyways, we got through the line, and DD refused to ride. Fortunately, they had a ride-swap room, so DW and I each rode the ride on our own without DD. I have to say we both totally LOVED this ride. I hear it got a lot of grief when it opened at a YASR (yet another screen ride) but to me, the use of the surround effect made it very effectively thrilling, much more so than MOST of the screen rides, which just felt to me like I was watching a movie. This was probably my 3rd favorite ride of the trip behind Hulk and Forbidden Journey.
For the third straight day we went to try the raptor encounter, but now instead of the wait being too long, it was just plain closed because it was too early. (It was probably 9:40 AM at this point in time.) So we headed into Hogsmead. The wait for the Hippogriff coaster was listed at 15 minutes, as was forbidden Journey. Since I know a dinky roller coaster can flex wait times quickly, I suggested we ride that first.
Having ridden this when it was the Unicorn, I have to say they did a nice job of re-themeing it with Hagrid’s Hut and the animatronic Hippogriff.
Believe it or not, this may have been DDs favorite ride – at least it was one of the only ones not to terrify her! Speaking of terrifying, it was time to head into Hogwarts for our Forbidden Journey.
Because they made us lock up all our stuff, I have no pictures from the ride queue. However, it certainly is impressive. There was really no lines at all, so even though I was trying to get DD to stop and watch the different sections where they talk about the ride, it was right onto the ride with no time to look at the queue. She really got a kick out of the stuff in the ride queue.
The ride on the other hand…well, I thought it was truly amazing. While it was a tight fit for me and DW, we all fit on the ride and were able to ride together. The ride mechanism was simply amazing, and the use of real animatronics with the screen effects were quite impressive. I really enjoyed this ride.
DD – not so much. She said afterwards that she couldn’t ride it again because she thinks she would have been sick if it had gone on much longer. In addition, we were talking about the ride:
DD: “So, what happened after the dragon?” (The title of our trip report.)
DW: “The dragon, that was like the first thing.”
DD: “ Yeah, I know. I had eyes closed, what happened?”
So, we had to tell her about the ride, she pretty much missed the whole thing!
There was of course a gift shop dump, but some of the features of the gift shop are pretty cool:
WE headed back into Hogsmeade, where I got a better shot of the snowman.
Again, the castle is very impressive. I wonder what the actual size is….it really looms large over you.
Got a butterbeer and watched the Hogwart’s Spirit Rally
DW wanted more candy, but decided to wait until back in Diagon Alley.
Zonko’s Joke Shop. It’s kind of funny that they have essentially the same stores in each land, just with different names. Turns out I never ended up going in the stores on the Hogwarts side of things.
The Hogwart’s express going back was only a 15 minute wait. Turned out I liked it a LOT better with a 15 minute wait versus 45 minute wait.
We rode across – and now it REALLY started to rain. Like pretty hard pouring rain. We ran into Diagon Alley because we wanted to do some shopping and send our purchases to the front. DD wanted a Slytherin Scarf and I wanted a Ravenclaw baseball cap. DW just wanted lots of chocolate, and DD bought a bunch for her friends.
On our way out, we decided to go across the way and eat lunch at the Simpsons food court. But first, a stop at the Nights Bus:
We with Stan – he looks pretty good for having survived Azkaban.
12 Grimmault Place….neat piece of themeing here with Kreacher peeking out.
Continued in next post...
Day 5- Wednesday
It dawned grey and overcast. We knew the rain was coming, just not sure exactly when. The radar seemed to indicate somewhere around 2 PM. So we decided that we would continue our rope drop policy. DMIL stayed behind today – we only bought a 2-day pass for her – and we were going to knock out more of the rides that she couldn’t go on. We left the house a teeny bit later than the day before, it was probably 8:05 AM. We got to the park with plenty of time. This time, we were going to hit IOA first, and try and take out the “big three” – Spiderman, Kong and Forbidden Journey.
We were there for rope drop. Here’s the rope as proof.
They were running the hulk coaster over and over with no-one on it. Every once in a while there would be a couple passengers. I asked the TM how they were getting on the ride. They wouldn’t tell me.
We entered Marvel Island. You can see it was pretty empty.
Spiderman was our first stop, and we literally got loaded onto the second car of the day. The ride is still a fun blast of entertainment. It hasn’t changed much in my memory in the 17 years since, but I guess they upgraded it since then. It’s still a fun ride.
Next we headed over to Kong. We had some fun with the signs in Toon Lagoon on the way:
DW liked these Secret Life of Pets signs as well:
And this one she wanted to put up at her work:
The Skull Island ride is definitely impressive from the outside, though oddly enough you sort of can’t see too much of it. Perhaps this is on purpose, because if they showed too much it would fall apart.
The queue completely terrified DD, to the point that she refused to go on the ride. The CM at Sanaa had mentioned the scare actors, so she was terrified someone would jump out at her. (She doesn’t do haunted houses in case you are wondering. ) Fortunately, no one did jump out- I find this type of thing more annoying than frightening anyways – I think humanity doesn’t get that there’s a difference between being surprised and frightened. Any of these haunted house / jump scares are not frightening. I am not scared that this person is going to harm me or do anything to me, I’m simply surprised that someone jumped out at me. I get no thrill out of being surprised. That said, it might be a cool effect in a line queue.
Anyways, we got through the line, and DD refused to ride. Fortunately, they had a ride-swap room, so DW and I each rode the ride on our own without DD. I have to say we both totally LOVED this ride. I hear it got a lot of grief when it opened at a YASR (yet another screen ride) but to me, the use of the surround effect made it very effectively thrilling, much more so than MOST of the screen rides, which just felt to me like I was watching a movie. This was probably my 3rd favorite ride of the trip behind Hulk and Forbidden Journey.
For the third straight day we went to try the raptor encounter, but now instead of the wait being too long, it was just plain closed because it was too early. (It was probably 9:40 AM at this point in time.) So we headed into Hogsmead. The wait for the Hippogriff coaster was listed at 15 minutes, as was forbidden Journey. Since I know a dinky roller coaster can flex wait times quickly, I suggested we ride that first.
Having ridden this when it was the Unicorn, I have to say they did a nice job of re-themeing it with Hagrid’s Hut and the animatronic Hippogriff.
Believe it or not, this may have been DDs favorite ride – at least it was one of the only ones not to terrify her! Speaking of terrifying, it was time to head into Hogwarts for our Forbidden Journey.
Because they made us lock up all our stuff, I have no pictures from the ride queue. However, it certainly is impressive. There was really no lines at all, so even though I was trying to get DD to stop and watch the different sections where they talk about the ride, it was right onto the ride with no time to look at the queue. She really got a kick out of the stuff in the ride queue.
The ride on the other hand…well, I thought it was truly amazing. While it was a tight fit for me and DW, we all fit on the ride and were able to ride together. The ride mechanism was simply amazing, and the use of real animatronics with the screen effects were quite impressive. I really enjoyed this ride.
DD – not so much. She said afterwards that she couldn’t ride it again because she thinks she would have been sick if it had gone on much longer. In addition, we were talking about the ride:
DD: “So, what happened after the dragon?” (The title of our trip report.)
DW: “The dragon, that was like the first thing.”
DD: “ Yeah, I know. I had eyes closed, what happened?”
So, we had to tell her about the ride, she pretty much missed the whole thing!
There was of course a gift shop dump, but some of the features of the gift shop are pretty cool:
WE headed back into Hogsmeade, where I got a better shot of the snowman.
Again, the castle is very impressive. I wonder what the actual size is….it really looms large over you.
Got a butterbeer and watched the Hogwart’s Spirit Rally
DW wanted more candy, but decided to wait until back in Diagon Alley.
Zonko’s Joke Shop. It’s kind of funny that they have essentially the same stores in each land, just with different names. Turns out I never ended up going in the stores on the Hogwarts side of things.
The Hogwart’s express going back was only a 15 minute wait. Turned out I liked it a LOT better with a 15 minute wait versus 45 minute wait.
We rode across – and now it REALLY started to rain. Like pretty hard pouring rain. We ran into Diagon Alley because we wanted to do some shopping and send our purchases to the front. DD wanted a Slytherin Scarf and I wanted a Ravenclaw baseball cap. DW just wanted lots of chocolate, and DD bought a bunch for her friends.
On our way out, we decided to go across the way and eat lunch at the Simpsons food court. But first, a stop at the Nights Bus:
We with Stan – he looks pretty good for having survived Azkaban.
12 Grimmault Place….neat piece of themeing here with Kreacher peeking out.
Continued in next post...
skier_pete
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Day 5 - Continued
You can see the grey skies over Universal.
The Springson's stuff was all pretty neat, definitely could feel the spirit of Springfield, even though the area was actually quite small.
DUFF_MAN!!!
Moe’s Bar
So, I was a HUGE Simpsons’ fan for about 15-20 years, until the show went downhill to the point I couldn’t watch it anymore. The amazing thing is the show continues on for YEARS after it stopped being funny. The show built a huge universe in those years, and a lot of it is represented here in this land. I just had to get a “Duff” beer at Moes! (They had Flaming Moes as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to try it. )
Bart prank-called me!
All the counter’s at the food court were themed to restaurants from the show.
However, most of the restaurants in the shows are particularly horrible restaurants, so I had a hard time with the idea of eating a Krusty-burger. We ended up getting the chicken and waffles from Cletus’. This was surprisingly good.
DD just got a pizza.
It was still pouring rain out, so we went on the Simpson’s Ride next. Here’s one place where screen’s definitely work.
However, the ride itself was just kind of so-so. I think part of the problem was our car was sort of off to the side maybe? We couldn’t see like the bottom ¼ of the screen, and it made it a big confusing and looked like watching a video game. I would actually like to try it again in a different car.
Came out and guess what, still pouring. We went over to the Men in Black ride…they had lockers so we assumed we had to check all of our stuff, so I don’t have any pictures of the ride. It’s basically buzz lightyear, but I really thought the theme of the ride was really cool. The only negative was after all the spinning and throwing you around of the other rides, I was sort of looking forward to a more leisurely ride, but hell no this is universal so we will spin you around even more. DD and DW both didn’t like this at all. I was OK with it, but had enough of being thrown around. It was still pouring when we left the ride and no sign of letting up in the forecast. So, we decided we would leave. Unfortunately, it was only 2 PM, and our package delivery from Diagon Alley wasn’t ready until 2:30 PM, so we had to wait and hang out in a little pastry shop near the front of the park. DD didn’t want to ride anything else, and neither did we. We just wanted to go back and dry off, even though the ponchos we bought were keeping us decently dry.
DD is a big Scooby Doo fan, so I made her pose in front of the mystery machine in her poncho.
Here’s DD in her poncho. She also got a few comments on her shirt, the one she particularly liked was in Diagon Alley when one of the TM asked, “So does that imply what you think of your parents?” Ha,ha – anytime you can make the parents feel bad!
With that, we headed back to the hotel and stuck around for the evening in the rain. We had two late nights ahead of us, so a good night sleep was a must!
Final day at Universal will be up next - hopefully a little faster, but DON"T COUNT ON IT!
You can see the grey skies over Universal.
The Springson's stuff was all pretty neat, definitely could feel the spirit of Springfield, even though the area was actually quite small.
DUFF_MAN!!!
Moe’s Bar
So, I was a HUGE Simpsons’ fan for about 15-20 years, until the show went downhill to the point I couldn’t watch it anymore. The amazing thing is the show continues on for YEARS after it stopped being funny. The show built a huge universe in those years, and a lot of it is represented here in this land. I just had to get a “Duff” beer at Moes! (They had Flaming Moes as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to try it. )
Bart prank-called me!
All the counter’s at the food court were themed to restaurants from the show.
However, most of the restaurants in the shows are particularly horrible restaurants, so I had a hard time with the idea of eating a Krusty-burger. We ended up getting the chicken and waffles from Cletus’. This was surprisingly good.
DD just got a pizza.
It was still pouring rain out, so we went on the Simpson’s Ride next. Here’s one place where screen’s definitely work.
However, the ride itself was just kind of so-so. I think part of the problem was our car was sort of off to the side maybe? We couldn’t see like the bottom ¼ of the screen, and it made it a big confusing and looked like watching a video game. I would actually like to try it again in a different car.
Came out and guess what, still pouring. We went over to the Men in Black ride…they had lockers so we assumed we had to check all of our stuff, so I don’t have any pictures of the ride. It’s basically buzz lightyear, but I really thought the theme of the ride was really cool. The only negative was after all the spinning and throwing you around of the other rides, I was sort of looking forward to a more leisurely ride, but hell no this is universal so we will spin you around even more. DD and DW both didn’t like this at all. I was OK with it, but had enough of being thrown around. It was still pouring when we left the ride and no sign of letting up in the forecast. So, we decided we would leave. Unfortunately, it was only 2 PM, and our package delivery from Diagon Alley wasn’t ready until 2:30 PM, so we had to wait and hang out in a little pastry shop near the front of the park. DD didn’t want to ride anything else, and neither did we. We just wanted to go back and dry off, even though the ponchos we bought were keeping us decently dry.
DD is a big Scooby Doo fan, so I made her pose in front of the mystery machine in her poncho.
Here’s DD in her poncho. She also got a few comments on her shirt, the one she particularly liked was in Diagon Alley when one of the TM asked, “So does that imply what you think of your parents?” Ha,ha – anytime you can make the parents feel bad!
With that, we headed back to the hotel and stuck around for the evening in the rain. We had two late nights ahead of us, so a good night sleep was a must!
Final day at Universal will be up next - hopefully a little faster, but DON"T COUNT ON IT!
I'll be here waiting when you do return
I know the Springfield section does not get a lot of love so enjoyed your pictures on that section
I raised my boys on the Simpsons
Glad to meet another fan!
Again I have to say, your pictures are the best!
I know the Springfield section does not get a lot of love so enjoyed your pictures on that section
I raised my boys on the Simpsons
Glad to meet another fan!
Again I have to say, your pictures are the best!
angryduck71
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Glad to hear you loved Kong. We purposely planned a trip here for that in May. It has evolved into much more, but o know it's one of the things my son is looking forward to the most.
jacksdadcan
Muggle Dad
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Have to love the Simpsons area as well, and agree with your thoughts on the show 100%! Still there's something about the nostalgia I guess.
PS Krusty Burger is (obviously) terrible on the show, in real life it's simply heaven. Great, now I'm hungry!
PS Krusty Burger is (obviously) terrible on the show, in real life it's simply heaven. Great, now I'm hungry!
skier_pete
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Thank you again for the compliment! I feel like I severely under-photoed this trip, though of course the rain and the fact you can't take photos on the rides sort of hampered my picture taking.
The Simpsons started when I was in college, so I was really in the target audience. I watched it for a LONG time and a long time after it stopped making me laugh regularly. This area really made me nostalgic for those early episodes. I got me trying to explain Satire to my 13-year old DD. I think she got it.
They did do a marvelous job on this section - but it helps that it's supposed to look cheap and lousy. I guess that's the benefit they have over say DINO land in AK - where they also used "cheap and lousy" as a theme, but without a show to back it up, it just looks "cheap and lousy" where as this looks "authentic".
Yeah, I would admit that we got tired of all the screen rides after a while, but Kong in particular impressed us. It uses screens surrounding the vehicle to give you a 360 affect, and it's pretty effective. The Kong animatronic is rather anti-climatic, but the rest of the ride is pretty great.
Yeah, I was pretty sure they weren't poisoning their customers with inferior beef like Krusty did, but I still couldn't bring myself to try them. Maybe next time.
The show was pure genius between 93 and maybe 98. It was still pretty great for a long time after that, but it just didn't work for me after a while. People must still watch it because it is still on the air, but I can't be bothered to take a look anymore.
k1koala
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Are you able to take photos on any of the rides you spoke about locking up your belongings? IM a BIG photo person and Im getting worried! LOL
Just wondering if there were some you "thought" you couldn't but would have been able to? Also could i just put camera in my (gasp) fanny pack and then ride?
Thanks so much! BTW loved the Simpsons as well in the late 90's, and still sing Barts birthday song to Lisa to my BFF!! LOL
Just wondering if there were some you "thought" you couldn't but would have been able to? Also could i just put camera in my (gasp) fanny pack and then ride?
Thanks so much! BTW loved the Simpsons as well in the late 90's, and still sing Barts birthday song to Lisa to my BFF!! LOL
franandaj
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I totally understand, and it's starting to give me a chance to catch up.
Those signs are great!
Yeah, someone jumping out at me doesn't scare me, it makes me jump and then get annoyed.
I have never heard this acronym, totally fits at Universal.
I wish I knew Hagrid's hut was in there. I rode it as Unicorn and didn't think there was any reason to go back there. Now I need to go back to Universal again.
That's how I felt on it as well. Next time I am going to take Dramamine first!
I can't see him.
I wanted to eat there, but it was closed for some sort of filming when we were there.
That sucks.
Sounds like a good way to spend a rainy evening.
skier_pete
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Thanks - whether it's Disney or Universal, we always like to beat the crowds.
Totally agree with you on the Simpsons! Thanks for posting pictures from the food court (who knew that Cletus would offer the most appetizing meal LOL). I am enjoying your reports - thanks for sharing, I look forward to more!
Hopefully, Cletus didn't use any road kill!!
"Lisa it's your Birthday! Happy Birthday Lisa!"
Certain rides they don't allow ANYTHING on - even a fanny pack. But I think all the rides they don't allow pictures. Universal is VERY anal about this. You can take pictures in the queues usually. I've known people to post pictures of those. I am not sure if they then did rider switch on Forbidden Journey, because as I said, they allow NOTHING on these rides. They don't even want something in your POCKET.
I just made up the acronym, but I can't be the only person to ever do so - they DO have a LOT of screen rides. I'm glad Disney doesn't seem to want to go too far down that route.
I didn't get a picture of the Hippogryph, but it actually moves as you ride by on the lift hill. It was a lot neater than I thought it was going to be...as you said, a pretty boring ride as the Unicorn.
DW and I took dramamine each day as a precaution. I don't normally do so at Disney because nothing there really bothers me except lately Space Mountain.
k1koala
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k1koala
Mouseketeer
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Im sorry I mis-stated. I didnt actually mean pics on the rides, but the queues. So I was thinking you cant take in anything so could you take pics in the queues and then stow it in pocket/fanny, etc. and then go on the ride? Sorry for the confusion. Yeah i tried photos on a coaster at Disney once! LOL
skier_pete
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Yeah - queues are OK. Most rides are not. My DD was watching a video of the JP ride on-line, and they came over the speaker and told the guy to put the camera away. Not cool.
skier_pete
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Day 6 - 4th day at Universal
We woke up this morning and they were predicting rain again. While this was disappointing, it turned out that the rain stayed away from central Florida, and it actually ended up being a beautiful warm day.
Since we had well covered Islands of Adventures the previous 3 days, today was about filling out the rest of Universal Studios. Without front of the line passes, we knew there were only a few rides we had to do, and the plan was to get them done first.
I had decided to drop off DW, DD and DMIL so they wouldn’t have to walk as far, and then go park, but I got all confused (poor signage from the drop-off area) and ended up going out of the Universal complex and out on the highway, and turned around and eventually ended up in the OTHER parking garage, but believe it or not I still made it to the gate just as the park was about to open, so it was all good.
We started out with Transformers: The ride. This was the exact moment that I got sick of the screen rides. This ride seemed to me to be much like the movies. Loud and noisy and technically impressive while still managing to bore me.
The weird thing about Transformers was I was the EXACT right age for these things. I should’ve been playing with them growing up, but they were too expensive so I never got any of them, and so in the end, I just simply don’t care about these movies or this ride.
Then we went to go on the Mummy.
DD had had about enough of these rides, and she said she was too scared to ride it. Since DMIL was with us, we decided to let her skip it. The Mummy was slightly different from the other rides, it was an actual roller coaster, and honestly it was a lot bigger of a ride than I thought. It was fun, but DW hated it, so I don’t know if I would ever ride it again by myself, I wasn’t all that impressed.
One of my favorite things about Universal is the character opportunities. I wish this is something that Disney did, having “real-life” characters that come out to meet. In this case, it was (I guess) Marilyn Monroe and a USO troop.
The Tonight Show ride wasn’t quite open yet – but now it is!
Next we decided to do something that everyone could join in on, and so we did the Shrek 4D movie. Even though DD sort of likes Shrek (she watches the musical all the time on Netflix) she didn’t want to ride because the movie is in the 3D and she hates 3D.
It was at this point I think that we had the following conversation:
Me: I told you that everything at Universal was 3D right?
DD: Yes.
Me: But you still wanted to go here, did you think I was lying?
DD: Yes.
So, nothing like spending $4000 to be able to prove to your child that you’re right!
Anyways, got a kick out of some of the signs in the queue:
The show itself was fine – it definitely could use an upgrade in quality, but everyone got a kick out of it. It was definitely funnier than most of the Shrek movies that have come out over the years, and the motion seats were fine. Everyone enjoyed it. (Except DD who didn’t like the 3D.)
After that, I rode on the Rip Ride Rocket ride while everyone else had a rest and a snack. Because I was single rider, I was literally the 2nd person in line when I got in line. I picked a No Doubt song (I think “Hella Good” but can’t remember) and was launched. This is a freaky ride as the lap bar is really slim. I thought it was a great coaster, because it had lots of inversions combined with twists, which is a really unique experience. I still love coasters, but I’m past the age that I can do them a bunch of times, so one ride was enough. I wanted to go see the Blues Brothers show. I am a HUGE fan of the movie, and love the music, so this was a lot of fun for me.
We stopped and got some lunch at this sandwich shop near the entrance. I was actually pretty forgettable, but it served it’s purpose. (DW and DMIL both wanted to eat there, so I went along.) Nearby, the Scooby Gang was out greeting. I tried to get DD to go, but she again refused. I was made mad yet again, but I went over by myself but it turned out they were about to go in.
Next we had decided to go see the Animal Actors show. This again is a serviceable show, but it again seems very cheap and out of its time. Refers to a lot of movies that are long-gone and not at all famous. (“Hotel for Dogs” anyone?) However, it’s a good way to spend 20 minutes in seated comfort.
Doc Brown was also out. I really wanted to get DD in a picture, but she was having none of it. Here’s Doc meeting with a young wizard.
I forgot the day before to get a picture of the Men In Black ride, so here it is:
DMIL had been wanting to buy ice cream for everyone since the first day we came, so we headed to Diagon Alley to get some butterbeer ice cream.
The crowds elsewhere in the park weren’t very large, but in here they were again HUGE, though not quite as bad as previous days.
DMIL asked if she could get sprinkles on her butterbeer ice cream. The response was “We can only serve it these three ways because it is trademarked.”
Now can I tell you they did such a wonderful job with the theming in this land, and the immersion, that this is best reason they can come up for that they can’t change the butterbeer ice cream? When I posted this elsewhere someone else said they were told the same thing. How about just saying “The butterbeer ice cream is enchanted, and we can only serve it this way else it will disappear.” Or something like that. It seemed really, really, dumb.
We debated about going on ET, but the line was 20 minutes and no-one wanted to wait that long. DD wanted to see the Jaws shark. (She’s a fan of the movie thanks to her Dad.)
It was now around 2 PM, and we actually were ready for a rest, we had evening plans to go and see Yeeha Bob Jackson at Port Orleans, so we headed back to the resort for a little while, then headed to POFQ for a bit of dinner and desert.
The Yeeha Bob show starts about 8 PM and the first set goes until about 10 PM.
We headed back to our resort after the show, because though we were done with Universal, we had one Disney Day left!
To be continued...
We woke up this morning and they were predicting rain again. While this was disappointing, it turned out that the rain stayed away from central Florida, and it actually ended up being a beautiful warm day.
Since we had well covered Islands of Adventures the previous 3 days, today was about filling out the rest of Universal Studios. Without front of the line passes, we knew there were only a few rides we had to do, and the plan was to get them done first.
I had decided to drop off DW, DD and DMIL so they wouldn’t have to walk as far, and then go park, but I got all confused (poor signage from the drop-off area) and ended up going out of the Universal complex and out on the highway, and turned around and eventually ended up in the OTHER parking garage, but believe it or not I still made it to the gate just as the park was about to open, so it was all good.
We started out with Transformers: The ride. This was the exact moment that I got sick of the screen rides. This ride seemed to me to be much like the movies. Loud and noisy and technically impressive while still managing to bore me.
The weird thing about Transformers was I was the EXACT right age for these things. I should’ve been playing with them growing up, but they were too expensive so I never got any of them, and so in the end, I just simply don’t care about these movies or this ride.
Then we went to go on the Mummy.
DD had had about enough of these rides, and she said she was too scared to ride it. Since DMIL was with us, we decided to let her skip it. The Mummy was slightly different from the other rides, it was an actual roller coaster, and honestly it was a lot bigger of a ride than I thought. It was fun, but DW hated it, so I don’t know if I would ever ride it again by myself, I wasn’t all that impressed.
One of my favorite things about Universal is the character opportunities. I wish this is something that Disney did, having “real-life” characters that come out to meet. In this case, it was (I guess) Marilyn Monroe and a USO troop.
The Tonight Show ride wasn’t quite open yet – but now it is!
Next we decided to do something that everyone could join in on, and so we did the Shrek 4D movie. Even though DD sort of likes Shrek (she watches the musical all the time on Netflix) she didn’t want to ride because the movie is in the 3D and she hates 3D.
It was at this point I think that we had the following conversation:
Me: I told you that everything at Universal was 3D right?
DD: Yes.
Me: But you still wanted to go here, did you think I was lying?
DD: Yes.
So, nothing like spending $4000 to be able to prove to your child that you’re right!
Anyways, got a kick out of some of the signs in the queue:
The show itself was fine – it definitely could use an upgrade in quality, but everyone got a kick out of it. It was definitely funnier than most of the Shrek movies that have come out over the years, and the motion seats were fine. Everyone enjoyed it. (Except DD who didn’t like the 3D.)
After that, I rode on the Rip Ride Rocket ride while everyone else had a rest and a snack. Because I was single rider, I was literally the 2nd person in line when I got in line. I picked a No Doubt song (I think “Hella Good” but can’t remember) and was launched. This is a freaky ride as the lap bar is really slim. I thought it was a great coaster, because it had lots of inversions combined with twists, which is a really unique experience. I still love coasters, but I’m past the age that I can do them a bunch of times, so one ride was enough. I wanted to go see the Blues Brothers show. I am a HUGE fan of the movie, and love the music, so this was a lot of fun for me.
We stopped and got some lunch at this sandwich shop near the entrance. I was actually pretty forgettable, but it served it’s purpose. (DW and DMIL both wanted to eat there, so I went along.) Nearby, the Scooby Gang was out greeting. I tried to get DD to go, but she again refused. I was made mad yet again, but I went over by myself but it turned out they were about to go in.
Next we had decided to go see the Animal Actors show. This again is a serviceable show, but it again seems very cheap and out of its time. Refers to a lot of movies that are long-gone and not at all famous. (“Hotel for Dogs” anyone?) However, it’s a good way to spend 20 minutes in seated comfort.
Doc Brown was also out. I really wanted to get DD in a picture, but she was having none of it. Here’s Doc meeting with a young wizard.
I forgot the day before to get a picture of the Men In Black ride, so here it is:
DMIL had been wanting to buy ice cream for everyone since the first day we came, so we headed to Diagon Alley to get some butterbeer ice cream.
The crowds elsewhere in the park weren’t very large, but in here they were again HUGE, though not quite as bad as previous days.
DMIL asked if she could get sprinkles on her butterbeer ice cream. The response was “We can only serve it these three ways because it is trademarked.”
Now can I tell you they did such a wonderful job with the theming in this land, and the immersion, that this is best reason they can come up for that they can’t change the butterbeer ice cream? When I posted this elsewhere someone else said they were told the same thing. How about just saying “The butterbeer ice cream is enchanted, and we can only serve it this way else it will disappear.” Or something like that. It seemed really, really, dumb.
We debated about going on ET, but the line was 20 minutes and no-one wanted to wait that long. DD wanted to see the Jaws shark. (She’s a fan of the movie thanks to her Dad.)
It was now around 2 PM, and we actually were ready for a rest, we had evening plans to go and see Yeeha Bob Jackson at Port Orleans, so we headed back to the resort for a little while, then headed to POFQ for a bit of dinner and desert.
The Yeeha Bob show starts about 8 PM and the first set goes until about 10 PM.
We headed back to our resort after the show, because though we were done with Universal, we had one Disney Day left!
To be continued...
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