The Darling Family June 2010 Trip Report: When are the Parents Showing Up?11/5 New TR

[creativeamanda]

Wow--those are some amazing photos of WWOHP. I wonder if I should wait another year, because I don't see me staying offsite in December. Or maybe I should tack on some days in June to stay at Universal.

Decisions, decisions. . .

I would love to have a butterbeer right now--it's pretty hot here in NC still!

 

[klacey1]

I think I'd give up the sake of authenticity for bigger shops with no wait! Hmm, your DH is one of the few I've heard from who prefers the non-frozen butterbeer. I love cream soda, so I can't wait to try it! I love all the pictures of your family drinking the different things, lol.

 

[praisehisname]

Yum, butterbeer sounds really good! Bet it felt great on that hot day!

 

[Angies1274]

I'm really enjoying your Universal updates! It sounds like you are having such a wonderful time!

You got some great pictures of WWOHP!!!

Okay...that butterbeer looks so refreshing and yummy!!!

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[dismagiclover]

Wow--those are some amazing photos of WWOHP. I wonder if I should wait another year, because I don't see me staying offsite in December. Or maybe I should tack on some days in June to stay at Universal.

Decisions, decisions. . .

I would love to have a butterbeer right now--it's pretty hot here in NC still!

Our visit was the week after opening so it was craziness. I would guess it has calmed down a bit (though I haven't been following the reports so I really don't know). There is probably a thread discussing crowds on the Universal board. It is hot here in MD too! I thought it was autumn!

I think I'd give up the sake of authenticity for bigger shops with no wait! Hmm, your DH is one of the few I've heard from who prefers the non-frozen butterbeer. I love cream soda, so I can't wait to try it! I love all the pictures of your family drinking the different things, lol.

Those shops are small. You'll see some pictures on Day 11. They are great though. I thought it was a bit unusual that DH liked the non-frozen butterbeer I thought the frozen was way tastier.

Yum, butterbeer sounds really good! Bet it felt great on that hot day!

It was very refreshing

I'm really enjoying your Universal updates! It sounds like you are having such a wonderful time!

You got some great pictures of WWOHP!!!

Okay...that butterbeer looks so refreshing and yummy!!!

I can't wait to hear more!

We had a fun time at Universal. DH was just happy to be with us on vacation and I think that really added to our fun time.

 

[dismagiclover]

So where did we head after leaving Harry Potter’s world? Next stop was Seuss Landing. The kids wished this was real.

This land has the cutest theming! Loved all the tie ins to our favorite books. This ride is based on my favorite Seuss story: The Sneetches.

Cute ride. Nothing exciting, but cute. Next we came to the area that is DH’s favorite Seuss story: The Lorax

DH even keeps a miniature Lorax on his desk at work. After this we headed for the Cat in the Hat ride.

Super cute ride. Similar to Winnie the Pooh ride. The kids loved this ride. In fact I think we went on it at least 4 times throughout the day. One of the advantages to the Express Pass is you never have to say “No the line is too long.” Of course after the third time I would really have liked to say “No the line is too long.”

Next we went for a spin on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Similar to Dumbo, but it involves getting wet. Islands of Adventure had many places where the kids managed to get wet.

Then we headed on to a Carousel which was full of Dr. Seuss’s creation. So cute.

After this DH decided he wanted to go try out the Spiderman ride so he left us. What did we do? We rode Cat in the Hat. It didn’t take DH too long to ride Spiderman (remember that Express Pass.) We were still browsing in the Cat in the Hat shop when he found us. We then headed to the playground in the area. Since we are at Universal the playground involved water.

This eatery wasn’t actually open, but I had to snap a picture because I thought it was so cute.

That was a fun hour in the park. And it is pretty obvious from the pictures that the crowds were non-existent. They were all over at Harry Potter which was great for the Darling Family. We’d explored Seuss Landing so where to next?

 

[Stefy]

Butterbeers look and sound yummy and much needed from the looks of it, can't believe its 9am and swelteringly hot!

Lots of fun to be had is Seusse land, it's so colourful looking

 

[reelmom]

We enjoy Universal also. We haven't been in awhile. We had planned on going when the WWoHP opened up but reading about the crowds has kept us away. I guess we will eventually get there.

 

[klacey1]

Great Seussland pictures! It really is themed amazingly!

 

[mermaid764]

Wow I can't believe how much attention they put into WWOHP, that's incredible and I can see why it's so popular.

Hopefully you guys got a chance to explore later on

 

[dismagiclover]

Butterbeers look and sound yummy and much needed from the looks of it, can't believe its 9am and swelteringly hot!

Lots of fun to be had is Seusse land, it's so colourful looking

That is Florida in late June Seuss Landing is so visually appealing. Love it!

We enjoy Universal also. We haven't been in awhile. We had planned on going when the WWoHP opened up but reading about the crowds has kept us away. I guess we will eventually get there.

You definitely need to get there eventually. I haven't kept up on how the crowds are now that it's been running for a few months. We went the week after opening.

Great Seussland pictures! It really is themed amazingly!

It is really great theming! We love his books so we all thought it was great.

Wow I can't believe how much attention they put into WWOHP, that's incredible and I can see why it's so popular.

Hopefully you guys got a chance to explore later on

They really went all out on the details at WWOHP. We did get back there the next morning to explore a bit more.

 

[dismagiclover]

DH had come back with a great report of the Spider Man ride. He tried really hard to convince the kids to go on it, but they weren’t interested. So I trotted off to take my turn. Once again this was a moment where it was so awesome to have the Express Pass. Walked right to the front of the line and hopped on. This was a fun ride. I’m not sure if my kids would have enjoyed it though because of their aversion to 3D. After I got off the ride I had a voice mail from DH telling me they were meeting Spider Man himself. So I headed over to join them. The Spidey Meet ‘n Greet was against a white screen. Universal then tried to sell images with the computer generated backdrop. Here are the pictures I took with my camera.

As you can tell they didn’t turn out too well. I’m sure Universal knows this. So I ended up buying a picture of my boys with Spidey. John is posed perfectly. It looks like the web is coming out of his wrist.

After the photo shoot the kids starting clucking about being hungry. We’d just had granola bars for breakfast plus a bit of butterbeer. So even though it was early (I don’t think it was 11:00 yet) we decided to get some lunch. I know people complain about the counter service in Disney Parks, but all I can say is once you do Universal Counter Service you’ll think Disney CS is the tastiest most efficient theme park food you have ever had. We went to what was a large restaurant with tons of seating. So there was no problem finding a seat (which is often a problem at Disney.) However, getting food to that seat was a challenge. There were only a few cashiers open (granted it was early), but there were long lines. The most frustrating thing: there was tons of prepared foodwaiting under the hot lights. The process just took forever to get to the food. I think I spent around 30 minutes waiting in line. Luckily there were plenty of tables so DH and the kids had a place to sit. Once we finally received our food I can tell you it wasn’t worth waiting for. Sub standard pizza, chicken nuggets, and hamburgers. My recommendation: If there is anyway possible avoid eating CS at Islands of Adventure. Anyway after finally finishing our meal we headed back out into the park where we ran into this cutey.

It’s Betty Boop. Wendy didn’t even know who she was, but she was so cute with Wendy. She told her how adorable she was (which Wendy always loves hearing). Definitely glad we stopped. So DH was hankering to ride the Jurassic Park raft ride so we headed over to that section of the park.

We sent him off to the ride and the kids entertained themselves in the playground. Here are some photos.

DH made it back within about 10 minutes and said the ride was lots of fun. I’d thought he would be wetter, but he was relatively dry.

We then headed over to learn more about dinosaurs in the Discovery Center. This was a fun place with lots of different activities (plus it was air conditioned.) Here are some of the highlights

A baby dinosaur was hatching while we were there.

The boys loved this game (it was like Jeopardy.)

On our way out the kids held real dinosaur eggs.

Things were going great, but it was hot so we decided we needed some cooling off. Next up: We get really wet.

 

[praisehisname]

Next stop was Seuss Landing.

That looked like a really fun, colorful area!

Finally, someone brushes the bangs out of that poor girl's eyes! Very cute pic!

On our way out the kids held real dinosaur eggs.

How come the employee had to wear gloves, but the kids didn't?

 

[klacey1]

Definitely a crapshoot if you get wet on JP-- your DH was lucky!
The Spidey picture came out terrific. Yes, Universal definitely knows what they're doing w/ the unflattering background!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Even though I have never read any of the Harry Potter books and have only seen bits and pieces of the movies, your pictures make me want to go to Universal next trip. The theming is fantastic.

 

[Stefy]

Great update Aww how cute are Wendy and Betty

Me and DF thought the same thing about Jurassic as it makes a huge splash but you don't get soaked, is a cool ride though

 

[dismagiclover]

That looked like a really fun, colorful area!

Finally, someone brushes the bangs out of that poor girl's eyes! Very cute pic!

Those long bangs She insisted on getting them, but the other day she asked how she gets ride of them. I explained that they actually have to grow out. I think I explained the same thing to her before she got them


How come the employee had to wear gloves, but the kids didn't?

That is a good question I don't have the answer too

Definitely a crapshoot if you get wet on JP-- your DH was lucky!
The Spidey picture came out terrific. Yes, Universal definitely knows what they're doing w/ the unflattering background!

Obviously it worked with me. I bought the picture

Even though I have never read any of the Harry Potter books and have only seen bits and pieces of the movies, your pictures make me want to go to Universal next trip. The theming is fantastic.

You should go to Universal one of these visits. Definitely worth the trip.

Great update Aww how cute are Wendy and Betty

Me and DF thought the same thing about Jurassic as it makes a huge splash but you don't get soaked, is a cool ride though

Those pictures of Wendy and Betty are very cute. They got along great

 

[dismagiclover]

One thing Universal is not lacking in is places to get wet. And we were headed to the granddaddy of the water rides: Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges. On our walk over to Toon Lagoon I snapped a couple of pictures.

We arrived at the Barges and once again the Express Passes came in handy. This ride is like Kali River Rapids with water guns shooting at you. There is literally no way anyone stays dry on this ride. Of course the kids absolutely loved it and clamored to go on again. So we did. Then they wanted to go again. So we did. That is right. We went on this ride three times in a row. I mean once you are already soaked what’s the difference? After we were all absolutely assured of having no dry spots anywhere on our entire body we decided to try something else. Here are DH and the kids in their wetness.

I was obviously not thinking when I let Wendy and Michael wear jean shorts. It was getting close to storytime in Seuss Landing. I really wanted to go so I talked everyone else into heading back there. DH left us to go ride something or other (I honestly don’t remember what.). The kids and I had enough time to ride Cat in the Hat again. (By this point I was a bit tired of this ride. It was seeming a bit like It’s a Small World.) After we came off the ride who did we find?

We barely had time to shake his hand before he ran off to get ready for storytime. So we found a place under an umbrella and soon we were greeted by the whole crew.

This was a great show! The storyteller read us The Places You’ll Go and the characters all performed for us. I think I liked it more than the kids. After the show the characters all came out for Meet ‘n Greets. First we met the Grinch.

Then it was Thing 1 and Thing 2 (Michael is getting a little friendly again)

Then Sam I Am (who always liked Green Eggs and Ham.)

Notice Michael isn't in many of the pictures. He wasn’t too in to character greetings by this point in the trip. It was nearing 2:00 and it was hot so we decided to head back to Royal Pacific for a swim. We had a great afternoon enjoying the pool. We still had the evening ahead of us so stay tuned to find out what we did.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Goodness gracious! You guys really did get wet. I imagine you were quite squishy after riding three times.

Poor Michael, he just doesn't care too much for characters when he's tired does he? At least you got pictures of him getting friendly with Thing 1 and Thing 2.

 

[klacey1]

That storytime thing is so great!! I wonder if they do different Seuss books? Definitely something to stop for next time-- never knew it existed!