The flawed product of a deranged mind - FINAL CHAPTER - post 100

[JKMJ441724]

Disney: You're good.

I don't need a map to get there.

I can get there from anywhere;

When I'm going in my mind.

just sitting here listening to mouseworldradio and dreaming of my next trip.

I hope to get a new installment up soon.

 

[JKMJ441724]

We made our way out of Epcot and into the parking lot. And wouldn’t you know it, would could not find the car. And we had a great parking spot. We knew it was very close to the front and very close the sidewalk. We used up quite a few minutes of our overly-packed schedule looking for the dang thing. Oops. It was just a couple rows over.

That reminded me of a time when I was in high school. I had gone to my job, at Service Merchandise I think, to pick up my paycheck. I dropped in the local grocery store to get it cashed. I had just pulled into the parking lot and found a front row spot right beside the door. SCORE! I walked in and had my check cashed. I promise you, I was not away from my car for more than five minutes.

Literally.

I walked outside and my car was GONE. You don’t forget where you parked when you score a front row parking space on the first try. But still, I wondered aimlessly around the parking lot for a few minutes trying to convince myself that I had parked somewhere else. I walked all the way down one row and was walking back up another row, when I saw them.

My mom and step-dad.

They were standing under the awning in front of the grocery store laughing their hineys (minus the plaque) off. They had seen me go in the store and immediately moved my car.

That taught me a valuable life-lesson: to be careful who I let have spare keys to my stuff.

So, anyway…

We headed over to Animal Kingdom. Babe’s driving exerted more G’s on my body than Mission Space.

We whipped into a parking spot, caught the tram, used our un- DE-Niable park hopper pass to get in the gate and picked up a park map. We had only been here one other time and had no idea which direction to turn.

We stopped for only a moment to have our picture made in front of the Tree of Life.

The photo pass photographer was gracious enough to take a picture with our camera, too. As soon as he took the picture, something “popped up” on our screen.

Oh no. The memory card was full.

Good thing that Momma was prepared this time. I brought a spare. We moved over out of the sea of humanity coming through area and I changed the cards.

I had learned life-lesson number 2 the year before. I did not take all the pictures from home off my memory card last year before we traveled and my card became full. I was not expecting that to happen. I did not have an extra memory card. I was not prepared. Oh, the horror.

We were in the MK and I had to run down to some store on Main Street. The charged me about $13.00 to take just 120 pictures off my card. My card ended up getting full again on that same trip. I debated on having another 120 pictures taken off. But I just told my mom and sister to take lots of pictures for the rest of the trip and I used some of theirs. Once we returned home, Walmart charged me about $3.00 to take off about 600 pictures. So there, use that information however you choose. It was really a bummer that year as far a preserving our memories were concerned. Our video camera somehow got moisture inside and it stopped working, too. Dang technology.

We made our way through the roots of the Tree of Life

and stood in line for It’s Tough to Be a Bug. I really enjoyed listening to The Flight of the Bumble Bee while waiting for the doors to open. As we stood inside the tree we looked at the movie posters in the holding area. A couple of my favorites were “Antie” and “A Stinkbug Named Desire.”

Going inside the theater brings into perspective just how big the Tree of Life really is. I don’t know how many people can fit inside the theater but it is huge, and that’s just the base of the tree. It’s very impressive.

Babe had never seen this attraction before. When we came last September, they would not let us bring our stroller inside and the boy was napping. If there is one life-lesson that I have learned from being a mother it’s DON’T TOUCH A SLEEPING BABY. I tell ya, that boy needs his naps.

So Babe pushed the baby in stroller around the park while I took the girl in to see the movie. When the girl and I got inside the theater and found our seat on the last row, who was sitting beside us? You guessed it, a family with a stroller with a sleeping baby inside.

Anywho, Babe and I and 400 of our closest friends told Flick to start the show. We did not buzz or sting during the show. I have to admit there was a little pollinating going on, though.

We were hungry and thirsty. Our slimy, shared breakfast had worn off. I got in line to get us some water and Babe got in line for Expedition Everest.

He called me to say that his line was moving faster than mine and I needed to head on over if I expected to ride with him. So I skipped the water and went over to got my scream on. The line was very short. It was barely though the Yeti Museum.

This was our first encounter with truly under-deodorized people. Sure, we had caught a whiff here and there throughout our trip, but this time we were in line next to someone who smelled. And he was wearing a muscle shirt, and he had no muscles. Just uncovered pits emitting noxious fumes into the atmosphere.

We climbed into our train and made our way up the mountain. It was my Everest. I rode it just because it was there. One day, when I am a little bit braver, I want to try to have my camera ready when we get to the peak of the mountain and take a picture looking out over the park. It’s an awesome view.

We had great weather the whole time we were there. It was not too hot. Our first day it was cloudy and we thought it might rain, but it never did. It just cooled things off nicely. Even on days when the sun was brightly shining, there was a stout breeze. That was great news for us, but bad for the firemen trying to put out the fires in other parts of Florida.

We made our way over to Dinoland USA.

We took a turn on Primevil Whirl. I like this ride. It is a nice combination of a Mousetrap type ride and a roller coaster. Babe skipped it last year, so I made him ride it this time. He enjoyed it, too.

We made our way into Dinosaur. I believe that this just may be my favorite ride in ALL of the parks. Let the stoning begin. The nice elderly CM working the entrance to Dinosaur asked me how long we had been married. When I said ten years, he told Babe that he robbed the cradle.

I told the CM that comment just made him my new best friend.

Then we rode it again for good measure.

We got back from our time travel just in time to land a great spot to watch Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade with no wait!!

One of the people in the parade used his birdy beaky thingy to get my hair. It scared me because he had already walked past me and I had focused my attention on other characters coming down the lane.

We videoed the whole parade for the kids to see when we got home. We did not get to see it last year. It was just too dang hot and we were too dang tired.

Babe had said that after the parade, he wanted to ride the Kilimanjaro Safaris. I had wanted to just skip it. We rode it last year, and while it was wonderful, it just did not justify the wait in line. Plus, the spot we had on the parade route was right beside the entrance and I figured that people would deluge the ride as soon as the parade was over. I voted NO.

But Babe did want to ride and marriage isn't about gold bands and bath towels. It's all about compromise.

After all, he did ride IASW for me. So off we went towards the entrance.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

...and I was so caught up in your story, "did they Safari or not?" that I didn't realize the installment had ended... I picked up my laptop to see if the words were under there somehow Seriuosly, great installment - loved the pics!

 

[JKMJ441724]

...and I was so caught up in your story, "did they Safari or not?" that I didn't realize the installment had ended... I picked up my laptop to see if the words were under there somehow Seriuosly, great installment - loved the pics!

We rode.

My next installment is called "The One With the Tearjerker."

 

[MeLaNie9]

Love the updates! Good to hear your take on the intense side of MS- that it wasn't bad. I opted for the green side last time but was thinking of doing the orange side this time - I am "planning" on doing all those rides I have never ridden before (this also includes EE) due to wimpiness on my part and inability to ride with DH. This time we'll have MIL or SIL to watch the kids so we won't have to baby swap and ride alone.
Looks like we probably won't be doing the WDW trip without the kids after all. We have added 2 days to our upcoming WDW trip (now 9 days with the kids, MIL, SIL ) plus I will probably have to go to a work conference in Honolulu and DH might come along - Hawaii sans kiddies, just like our honeymoon!
Great pics again! You guys just look like you are having such a great time!

 

[JKMJ441724]

Love the updates! Good to hear your take on the intense side of MS- that it wasn't bad. I opted for the green side last time but was thinking of doing the orange side this time - I am "planning" on doing all those rides I have never ridden before (this also includes EE) due to wimpiness on my part and inability to ride with DH. This time we'll have MIL or SIL to watch the kids so we won't have to baby swap and ride alone.
Looks like we probably won't be doing the WDW trip without the kids after all. We have added 2 days to our upcoming WDW trip (now 9 days with the kids, MIL, SIL ) plus I will probably have to go to a work conference in Honolulu and DH might come along - Hawaii sans kiddies, just like our honeymoon!

Babe and I are thrill seekers of the wimpy kind. It's nothing to ride a roller coaster but you won't find either of us jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

It's so nice to be able to ride your favorite rides with the man you love. And it's also nice to be on a ride that the whole family can be on together. Their are pros everywhere. No cons.

A 9 day trip to WDW. That deserves a whole row of

A trip to Hawaii on your boss - But I hope when you said just like your honeymoon, there wasn't a conference involved.

 

[JKMJ441724]

When we finished watching a jungle parade that was totally jammin’, we made our way to the entrance of Kilimanjaro Safaris - along with what appeared to be 2,000 other people. I thought we were in for a long haul. I was mentally preparing my I-told-you-so speech.

But apparently no one was riding the safari while the parade was going on. It took us longer to walk through the queue than to wait to get loaded onto our jeep. The jeeps were lined up just waiting for people to get in. There were about 15 of them parked in line.

While we were waiting for our turn to load up into a safari wagon, I saw him.

A boy of about ten or so years.

Wearing a Make-A-Wish pin and hat.

And he brought back a memory that was still painfully fresh, a wound that was still open and sore. A memory that was only a few weeks old or almost a year old, depending on when you started counting.

One Monday morning last summer, my boss walked into my office and announced that his oldest daughter had been diagnosed with leukemia. She had gone to the doctor for her routine sports physical the Friday before.

And her blood counts were off.

He was meeting her and his wife at our local hospital for them to run some more tests later that morning and he needed me to clear his calendar for next few days.

They first said that it was ALL leukemia and that if she HAD to get leukemia, this was the type to get. It had a high cure rate and she could be treated at our local hospital.

But then there were more tests.

And they said that it was the much more severe AML leukemia. She was moved to the nearest St. Jude Hospital which is five hours away from her home. Mom and daughter lived five hours away from husband and three other children.

They discovered that she was genetically resistant to treatment. But they aggressively gave her radiation and chemotherapy. Followed by a bone marrow transplant. She bravely fought for a few more weeks.

Then death, like a gypsy, came to steal what he loves.

She was two days shy of turning sixteen.

You guys know that I am not one of those people that has a way with words. No eloquent speeches coming from me.

Which is why I rely so much on movie quotes to get me through a conversation.

Occasionally, I rely on songs.

There is one by Casting Crowns that says “Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn gray, as she slips away. You‘re holding their hands, you‘re straining for words, you‘re trying to make sense of it all. They’re desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view and they are looking to you.”

I submit to you, my imaginary friends, that even though this was not my child it was the hardest thing I have ever lived through.

Later on, my boss told me that she signed up for Make-A-Wish and that her wish was for her family to be able to go back to Walt Disney World.

She was never well enough to go. She only left St. Jude twice to my knowledge. And that was only to go home for two weekends. She was there for eight months.

I said all of that to say this: Disney is so wonderful to terminally ill kids. I will gladly spend more time waiting in line so they can go to the front any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I’ve read some trip reports from Make-A-Wish families where they said that people actually groaned when they saw the family moving to the front of the line. Don’t do that.

Unless we are raptured by God, most of us can be reasonably sure that we will see tomorrow. No, it isn’t guaranteed. Those children will probably never grow old, may never graduate high school. They know their time is short. And it’s precious. Give them this gift. The gift of time. Let them spend what time they have left enjoying pleasant things. And be grateful that your children are well enough to stand in line.

And give to St. Jude and Make-A-Wish.

I’m done now.

Right behind the make-a-wish family was a family holding DREAM FASTPASSES. Man that rocks.

We loaded into our safari vehicle and took the tour. We did not see a lot of animals on our tour. Even the guide commented on the lack of wildlife. Here are a few shots of things we did see.

We ran to ride Expedition Everest one last time. Again, we walked right up and right on the ride.

Momma like.

 

[momtoccc]

Well you are right - that was a tearjerker! Very well stated! We can never take for granted this gift of life we have!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[JKMJ441724]

Kellye,

I'm glad you are along for my trip. I wish I had only good things to report from this trip, but you get the bad with the good.

I think about her all the time. I know my boss does too.

If you look back to my post #9, the grand jury in our area refused to indict the man who left the toddler in the car in the hot sun. We were talking about it and my boss said that if there were ever a case where justice should be tempered with mercy, that was it.

He said that the guilt is overwhelming when the child's death is not your fault and you have done everything humanly possible to prevent it. He could not imagine the guilt that father is living with. He said that he bets that father goes to bed and rises in the morning seeing the face of his child. He said that he speaks from personal knowledge.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Wow! Thanks for the reminder of how precious life is! I WAS crying - it is good to remember what really matters most.

 

[MeLaNie9]

Very well said.

 

[JKMJ441724]

After riding Expedition Everest for the final time this year, we walked out of the park. We were starving. We had not had anything since our grubs at the food court near Soarin’. We had always wanted to eat at Rainforest Café but had never made the time. We were supposed to meet a friend of mine later in the evening for dinner (more on that later), but we simply could not wait.

We walked over to the host and put our name in. There was no wait if we wanted to eat at the bar. If I waited much longer, I would eat the bar. I ordered a pizza and Babe had a burger. As we walked over to our table, I heard the host ask a family if they were on the Disney Dining Plan.

What?

Part of the reason we did not eat at Rainforest Café last year was because we thought they did not accept the DDP. I was going to be upset if they were on the DDP and I had somehow been mis-informed by the DIS. Was that even possible?

Does a dog move it's lips when it reads?

I don't think so.

The host just wanted them to know up front that they did not accept the DDP. I guess he has seen too many people make a scene because they wanted to use their DDP and he had to DE-NY them.

After we placed our food order, I called my DBFF to talk about our plans for later.

She lives in Tampa. She is a travel wholesaler. Not sure what that means but she’s on the road A LOT. She had come home a few months earlier, the day we booked this trip as a matter of fact, for her sister’s baby shower. I told her then that we were going down to go to Disney for our anniversary. She said that maybe she and her husband could meet up with us one day. Then she looked at her calendar and said “Crap. I have to go out of town that week.” And we did not really talk about it after that.

Then she called me a few weeks before my trip and said that she did not put two and two together. Her “out-of-town” was going to Orlando!!! How awesome was that? She was working a travel show at a hotel that was within WALKING DISTANCE from Saratoga Springs and DTD.

My DBFF is the best DBFF that has ever lived. I will tell you that she has been a much better friend to me than I have been to her. We have known each other since the third grade. We were science fair partners, Halloween trick-or-treaters, over-night house guests, vacation partners (Disney and the beach), field-trippers, high-school sorority sisters, class-reunion buddies and so much more.

She talked me into trying out for cheerleader my senior year. We practiced cheers in the backyard. I knew the words and the moves. My arms were straight and I had a smile on my face. I was golden. I was in. Then she said those fatal words: “Girl, we are going to throw you all over the place.” WHAT? Nevermind.

There were so many things that we did together. We know too much about each other to ever risk NOT being friends.

She has been there for me - through heartbreaks and joyous times. I would like to think that I have been there for her, too.

She has moved several times. She has lived in Atlanta and Savannah and Seattle and Tampa. I keep begging her to come home. Even though the miles separate us, and we have been known to go for weeks without talking, we are fast-friends. When she picks up the phone to call me, it’s like we have never been apart. We just start where we left off the last time.

She is always in my heart, and often on my mind.

I thank God for her.

She said that her show should be over around 8:00 p.m. or so and then she would have to clean up and get changed. We planned to meet around 9ish. She would call me when she was finished.

I called to check on the kids.

Our food came and it was fabulous. Totally worth it. Definitely two thumbs WAY up. Of course, there is very little a starving man won’t eat.

We paid the bill and walked out of Rainforest Café. I looked at my watch. Of course it was the exact time that the park was closing for the day and there was a mass-exodus heading for the tram. Figures.

We got in line for the tram. In line in front of us was the same family from Fantasmic the night before. As the family was getting off the tram, the husband said, “I guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”

I know he was joking. But then he said, “You are going to Universal, right?” And we said yes and we all laughed.

Our original plan was to go back to Epcot and see the World Showcase. But we decided to go over to Magic Kingdom to finish out our day and our time at Disney.

Babe asked if I wanted a butt-kicking on Buzz Lightyear. I told him to bring it on. We shook hands and I said “May the best man win.“ He said, “I will.“ We were at a tie at Buzz for this trip with one game each.

To say that we were tied overall would be a gross misstatement of the truth. Out of all the times we have ridden this ride, he has only beat my score the one time. Babe jumped out to an early and commanding lead this time. I was sweating my title as Buzz Lightyear butt kicker extraordinaire.

But all was not lost. I nailed a fabulous come-from-behind victory. It was like the Red Sox in game six of the 1975 World Series. It was spectacular. People were cheering and rushing into the seat with us. For the rest of the day, people were asking me for my autograph. It was crazy.

Babe said that I must have hit a target that paid the out jackpot. I said it did not matter where or when the points came. All that matters was my score was higher when time ran out!

We got our scream on one more time at Space Mountain. Babe wanted to run over to Splash Mountain. He wanted to make it a triple and go on BTMR but I was too tired. I was beat. I was spent. And three other things that mean the same thing.

We worked our way through some of the shops on Main Street. We were still trying to get some prizes for the kids. I had packed an extra suitcase to bring them all back home in, after all.

Then we walked down Main Street and through the tunnel. I chocked back my tears. Good-bye, Disney.

We went to our room to freshen up. Then headed to DTD to meet my DBFF at the Irish Pub.

Then we went home for the night.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Thanks for sharing a peek at your beautiful friendship with DBFF! A friend like that is a treasure! I am getting sad to see your TR winding down!

 

[JKMJ441724]

Like I told you very early on, this trip report is full of random movie quotes. I was going to wait until the end to tell you what they all are, but who knows if this thing is ever going to end. I have gone back through the posts and marked them with numbers. Here is a list of where the quotes came from.

1 - I told you in the paragraph that it came from Gone With the Wind. It was the scene where Rhett and Scarlett are fleeing Atlanta during Sherman's march.

2 - Jerry McGuire

3 - By Nicole Kidman in Days of Thunder where Cole and Rowdy are racing each other in the rental cars through the parking garage.

4 - Said by Carrie in Sex and the City when Miranda confides that she is in love with Steve. Carrie is holding Brady and she fixes a drink for Miranda.

5 - Said by the old Rose as she looks over her belongings that were retrieved from her stateroom. She is looking at the mirror and said it hasn't changed since the last time she saw it, but the reflection has changed a bit.

6 - Said by Chandler in Friends, you know, the one with Monica's Thunder. He is having trouble consumating his love for Monica.

7 - Another reference to Carrie in Sex and the City - It's the one called Freak Show. She is on a date with a millionaire who steals used paperback books.

8 - What? What's that you say? This is taking from a children's poem by Shel Silverstein called Sick. The book is Where the Sidewalk Ends. I highly recommend it.

9 -This is straight from the comedian Gallagher (yes the same one who smashes watermelons). He said he had not realized how much his daughter had grown until he was going to put her in the car seat and hit her head on the door frame of the car.

10 - The creation story from Genesis. I'm am afraid there are some out there that don't know it and felt obliged to spell it out.

11 - Incredibles, duh. I love what Frozone's wife says after that "I am your wife. I am the greatest good you have ever known." I wish I had a sign with that cross-stitched in it or something to just hang over my fireplace.

12 -

13 - Steel Magnolias by Claree (or Clarice??) to Weezer after she tells Malynn to hit Weezer.- Post 31

 

[JKMJ441724]

Well, it has taken me almost a year to write this trip report. I am already planning my next visit to the world, so I thought I better get kicking on finishing this thing. I’m pretty obsessive-compulsive so the thought of leaving this thing unfinished makes me pretty-well-crazy. So here goes the next installment….

We woke up the next morning (big surprise since I’m still here writing this drivel.) We did not get an early wake up call. We just rolled out whenever we rolled out. We were tired. We had been going hard for the past 3 days. Rode hard and put of wet so to speak. Trying to pack as much fun into our small get-away-vacation as possible.

Today’s plan was going to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. I add this chapter and maybe one more on Universal for a means of comparison. It was part of this trip, after all. I’m sure my friendly moderator will redirect me, should I be in error for posting this part on this board.

Universal Studios used to be my favorite park in ALL of Orlando. But this year, I just was not feeling the love. I blame it on being SO worn-out.

Even though we were not in a hurry, I did not want to just lollygag. As usual, I was ready long before Babe. And I got all of our stuff ready, too.

We stepped into the sauna that is Orlando in May and got into the oven that was our car in Orlando in May.

The drive to Universal was longer drive than I expected from our room. I was surprised to see a parking garage. That was new from the last time we visited here eleven years ago. We parked in the Jurrasic Park section of the parking garage.

We had purchased our tickets on-line. We walked to the automatic ticket kiosk. Dang technology!! It took us a couple of tries before we figured it out and got our tickets. Strike One.

We decided to hit Islands of Adventure first since that was not there the last time we came to Universal. We walked in the gate and headed left. I’ve read that most people pick the right side for stuff. Like in a buffet line. And since most people go right, I’ve heard that you will fare better if you go left, instead. Now the secret is out and both of you reading this report will start going left and it’s just going to be chaos.

Our first ride of the day - The Incredible Hulk Coaster.

We jumped in line. There was a twenty minute wait. A ride attendant told us that we could not take our backpack on the ride. That we had to store it in some free electronic locker.

We got out of line and made our way to the locker. It took forever to figure out the locker. We are not teenagers after all. Modern technology confuses us. It took about fifteen minutes at the locker. Not all of that time was figuring out the lockers. Part of it was waiting in line to get to use the electronic locker. Strike Two.

By the time we got back in line, the wait time had jumped from twenty minutes to thirty-five minutes. So far, Momma was not happy with Islands of Adventure. We debated on BUYING the Universal version of the FastPass. We decided we would try a couple more rides before we made our decision.

I have to say this was an awesome roller-coaster. We were impressed. That is until the ride stopped.

I mean STOPPED. Not the-ride-was-over, or done, or finished. We were stuck.

Thank goodness we were near the end of the ride; the part were you are basically coasting to get back into the loading and unloading area. Now I believe in safety, so when we were told to pull the harness down, I pull it as far down as I can possibly get it, even to the point of cutting off my breathing ability.

While I was fine with the pressure of the harness while the ride was in motion, it was incredibly uncomfortable once the ride stopped - and stayed stopped for several minutes. To make matters worse, we were in the baking sun. Babe even said “the white people are melting out here.”

He didn’t mean white. He meant not tan.

The pressure was on, claustrophobia was beginning to set in. We were way out where no one could hear me scream. No one except babe and the poor dad and his teenage son sitting next to me. SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE.

Strike Three.

If this place was a ball game, Universal would be batting whatever really bad is.

 

[JKMJ441724]

I think I have clearly established that I don’t do rides that drop or rides that spin. This late in the game, I felt no need to hurl my cookies so we skipped Storm Force Accelatron. Ditto for Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. Feel free to go back to my post regarding Tower of Terror.

Another point that I think has been used to beat a dead horse is that I had never paid attention to all the background music at Disney. And in my math failure to notice equals subtlety. At Island of Adventure and Universal, I felt that the music was very loud. Rock concert loud. Here, the music was being pumped straight into my melon. I’m not sure if I was just exhausted from our whirlwind of a trip or if this place was a bucket full of suck.

We headed next to the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. I can not recall anything about this ride at this point (some nine months later) except that it was a very cool 3D roller coaster.

We decided to go ahead and grab some lunch. We ordered two hotdogs, one large Coke and one bag of chips and it cost nearly twenty dollars. I know that is probably what it would have cost at Disney, but I’m more likely to turn over an Andrew Jackson there because it’s THERE, at Disney.

While we were munching on our hotdogs, we noticed a worker with a sign directing people right past where we were sitting. I told Babe to check out what she was saying. Apparently, we were in the right place at the right time to have our picture made with Spiderman. We wolfed down our dogs and got in line. I must say Spidey looked pretty good in his tights.

We were going to ride Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls but we did not want to get wet. We decided to skip it. As we walked over the bridge, we looked at the people in the raft. They were soaked. We made a good call. There on the bridge were machines that you could put money in and operate a “soaker.” This was a contraption where you could pick the soaker and when you pushed the button, it would spray the people in the boat who just finished their ride. So if you had managed to stay dry on the ride, you could potentially get drenched here. And apparently, it was very cold. Pretty cool, as long as you are the one operating the controls and not the unsuspecting fool in the boat. We skipped Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barge’s for the same reason.

Even though Jurassic Park River Adventure was a water ride, we decided to try it.

There was a sign that advised we could get very wet on this ride, too, but we risked it anyway. I used my park map as a shield. Pretty corny, I know. I guess I could have actually pulled out my poncho, but I didn’t want to look like a complete dork. Overall, I liked this ride with one exception. There was one dinosaur that we could actually hear squeak. He definitely needed a tune-up. It made me think of all the maintenance Disney does at night and I wondered about Universal’s maintenance.

If we had brought the children I would have ridden Pteranodon Flyers. We did not ride it because they would not let us. You see it is a kiddie ride and you had to be a kid or be escorting a kid to ride. It looked very cool. I don’t know if we will take the kids there any time soon, because I think both of these parks are just not very kid friendly. At least not for kids that are 5 and 3.

Poseidon’s Fury was definitely on my must do list for this park.

I was not sure what this attraction was all about, but I had seen this picture on the Disboards and thought this was the ride.

That was not the “ride.” This is not a ride after all, but more like a show. Don’t get me wrong, it was cool, but not what I had built up in mind. We would like to have watched the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show but we had to skip it due to lack of time.

I did, however, have time to take this picture of Babe's bum.

We picked the Fire side of The Dueling Dragons. This was one wicked-cool roller coaster.

Live it, Learn it. We decided to make our last stop of Island of Adventure the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.

I step onto the train and once again got my restraint too tight. Learned my lesson the first time. I say old chap - a bit of assistance, if you please. I asked the attendant come loosen it. Sure did not want to get stuck on this ride and not be able to breathe.

After the ride was over, I took a picture of my grinch with THE Grinch.

We walked over to Universal.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hey! She's back! Looks like you had fun at "the other place." Did you end of wet on Jurassic Park? I love that ride, but I always get soaked

P.S. I just noticed something funny - you know how the google ads at the top of the page indicate they have picked up on some topic of conversation and tailor them to something you might be intertested in....well... the ads at the top of this page, where you have said, "restraint" and "Old Chap" and "assistance" The ads are for Step-In Bathtubs, home elevator installation and transport chairs

 

[JKMJ441724]

Hey! She's back! Looks like you had fun at "the other place." Did you end up wet on Jurassic Park? I love that ride, but I always get soaked :

I'm glad you have come back for more.

I remained mostly dry on Jurrasic park. But there is a soaker to come!!! One that I would never have expected.

P.S. I just noticed something funny - you know how the google ads at the top of the page indicate they have picked up on some topic of conversation and tailor them to something you might be intertested in....well... the ads at the top of this page, where you have said, "restraint" and "Old Chap" and "assistance" The ads are for Step-In Bathtubs, home elevator installation and transport chairs

I did not see that. That is too funny!!!!

Again, glad to "see" you back!

PS: In your siggie, is that a road trip to DISNEYLAND, as in California - the land of fruits and nuts? My daughter will be so jealous. She has been begging us to take her to California to see Sleeping Beauty's castle. You will have to do a trip report and post lots of pics so I can show them to my little princess.

 

[JKMJ441724]

It had been eleven years since our shadows had darkened the entrance to Universal Studios.

At one time, this was my favorite park in all of Orlando. All those years ago, we actually waited (a long time) to see Terminator.

Then, once we got to the doors, they told us they were having technical difficulties. We came back to it later, but by then, we were so tired that I did not commit much of it to memory. So Terminator was the first thing on our list for this day. Turns out, it really wasn’t memorable to me. I can’t recall very much about it now except that it is a blend of 3D movie and live action. I did think that our girl would be freaked out - in a good way - by the life size terminators in the auditorium. The girl is afraid of nothing.

I wanted to video some of ET for the kids.

I loved this ride last time. I remembered the forest while standing in the queue. It took me back years, before a mortgage, before kids. Back when we were just kids ourselves. Well, I was anyway. Babe is a cradle robber.

And even though he is 40 (41 now - man it has taken me a long time to write this) he reached his full maturity level at age 18. I know it is wrong to stereotype but in my experience, most guys reach their full maturity level at age 18.

When you first enter the building for this attraction, you have to give the attendant your name and they type it in a computer and give you a piece of plastic similar to a credit card with a magnetic strip on the back. Once you get on the ride, you swipe your card and ET will tell you thanks at the end of the ride. For five minutes before it was our turn, Babe tried to decide which fake name he should give the attendant. He ultimately decided on “Shaggy.” There were others, some of which he never could have gotten away with.

We boarded our bikes and I get my camera ready to video and the attendant tells me there is no videography or photography allowed on this ride. I was disappointed. I really wanted to video but I am a rule-player and I did not want to risk being thrown out of the park for using video equipment after I had already been warned not to do so.

At the end of the ride, I did not hear ET say my name or Shaggy. Talk about insult to injury.

We were using this trip as a reconnaissance mission. I told Babe during our last trip to Disney that IOA and UO were too grown up for our children. And I still stand by that assessment. There were some things that they would like but I do not feel like there is enough there for small children to justify the admission price or a full day of our time.

One of the things our children would have enjoyed was the area themed with Curious George. Our daughter’s pre-school teacher loves Curious George and therefore, our daughter loves him, too.

This was a water park type area. Don’t go in unless you are planning to get soaked!! We would have to bring full changes of clothes if we were ever to go in there or allow our kids to go there. I don’t like to be wet unless I am at a water park. Then I am properly attired. This has been discussed in previous chapters.

We decided that this would be a great time for a break. We got an Icee and a pretzel. Boy, were they GOO - OOD. We copped a squat on the curb (all the benches were taken), at our pretzel and drank our Icee and watched the kiddies play in the water.

Once we were refreshed, we walked past what used to be the Back to the Future ride. That was my favorite ride in all of Orlando in the past. I lamented its passing, bowed my head in sorrow that I would not get to ride it again. Times, they are a changing. I don’t know what is coming in it’s place, but it better be awesome. I took a picture of the train.

We jumped in line for Men in Black. But first, we had to stow our backpack in the lockers. By this time, we had them pretty-well figured out. Men in Black is very similar to Buzz Lightyear, except in this ride the rider does not control the spinning. We took our laser guns and fought the bad guys. And wouldn’t ya’ know it - I kicked Babe’s butt again.

We headed next to Amity. Not to be confused with Amityville.

I guess I should not have allowed that to come into my mind as I sit here in my darkened living room typing this out. You know how you can just freak yourself out over nothing….

Babe needed a pee break so I told him that I would jump in line for Jaws and he could catch up with me. Turns out he couldn’t catch up because there was NO line. For a while, I was literally the only person in line. Finally, a few people got in line and I told them to go ahead while I waited for Babe.

I had read on these boards that the “Captains” would not let people take pictures during the ride. I sheepishly got my camera out thinking I would be publicly rebuked and humiliated at any moment. But nothing was ever said and I took pictures til my heart was content.

I remember this being a pretty tame ride. Sure there were moments of intenseness when the shark jumps out of the water, but I remember staying dry….

Can you see what’s coming? I had managed to stay dry for my whole trip. But when we got the part of the ride were our boat won’t run so we duck into some type of garage and Jaws comes speeding towards us…

There was a tidal wave of water directly onto Babe and with those hard plastic seats, the water had nowhere to go except into my shorts, then down my legs into my socks and shoes. We were both soaked.

On Jaws.

So, to the bathrooms we went to stand under the hand driers for a little while. This helped my shorts but I squished with every step.

We waited in line for earthquake. This ride is phenomenal. I did not want to miss it this time because it would probably be gone by the next time we came to this park.

We passed by Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Review. We remembered it from last time. Isn’t it amazing how some things just never change. Kinda like Dick Clark. We simply did not have enough time. We wanted to hit some things that were not there on our last trip.

Like Revenge of the Mummy.

This ride alone may be worth the price of admission. I would have loved to had an opportunity to ride it again but the line was just too long.

We stood still and watched a Twister go by.

Then headed over to catch Shrek 4D.

It was time to go and we walked out of the park.

 

[JKMJ441724]

With Babe’s hand in mine, we walked to our car.

Before we went back to our resort, we stopped in one of the generic souvenir shops to look for last minute prizes for the kids. Disney they ain’t. Their stuff was crap. Even though they had Disney themed merchandise, it just was not the quality one finds in Disney. There was nothing there that could make me part with my money.

We were ravenous. And just like the day before, we could not wait until we met up with my friend before we ate. We were on the strip outside of Disney property and there were several restaurants to pick from. We decided that we would just get something light and simple and maybe we would still have room for dessert with my DBFF.

We picked Hooters. It’s been about eight years since I have eaten at Hooters. Now I remember why. We just got several appetizers. Wings, shrimp, something else. I can’t even remember. It was very disappointing. But it was just like the Hooters I remember.

My DBFF was supposed to give us a call once her travel show was over. She still had not called so we headed to our room to begin the sad task of packing for home. Before we went to our room, I had to make a pit-stop at the front desk. You see before we left home, I printed out directions from the airport to our hotel but forgot to print out directions from the hotel back to the airport. It took a few minutes for them to mapquest the directions but a nice CM at the front desk was able to help us out.

While getting my directions, my DBFF called and said that she would be ready to meet up with us in about an hour. We quickly freshened up and headed over to DTD. We were going to make one final excursion for prizes for our boy and girl. Plus, I had to bring something back for my sister’s son. I just did not think it would be right for him to meet us at the airport and take us home and see that we had gifts for our kids but nothing for him. That’s just not fair.

We were making our final selections when my friend called and said that they were on DTD property. She and some of her not quite co-workers met us and then we headed back to the Irish Pub. I say they were not quite co-workers. They were all people that she does business with in the travel industry. I can’t remember their names now, but they were very interesting and friendly. I think one worked for Sandals competition and the other for Club Med. Forgive me if I have that wrong.

We were able to score a table on the patio. I liked this much better than inside. Oh, the band was good and dancing girl was lively, but I was there to see my friend. We hung out with them for a couple of hours, but we had to call it a night pretty early. We still had to go back to the room and get packed and ready to leave. We had an early morning ahead of us.

The fat lady was tuning up.

It was time to go.

Back in the room, we laid out the things that we would need in the morning and packed all the other stuff. We used the extra suitcase I had brought and packed in the prizes. I will tell you now, there were not as many as I would have originally imagined. It just wasn’t as much fun without the kids there to pick them out.

We had a wake up call from Stitch at 4:45 a.m. We sprang out of bed like daisies in the snow. Both of us got ready fairly quickly. All you really need is a twirl here and a yank there and voila - you’ve got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair. We simply did not dare risk missing our flight. The cheap airfare that we got was only good on certain days of the week. If we missed our flight, we would have to pay through the nose for another one. We loaded the bags into the rental and headed out towards the airport.

When I woke up enough to think clearly, I told Babe “Happy Anniversary.” He told me the same. Awwww. The warm fuzzies! The very next song on the radio was “the Break-Up Song.” Man, that can’t be good. But just a couple of songs later contained the lyric which stated the truth about our relationship. I’m forever yours - Faithfully.

Am I giving away our ages by telling you the type of music we listen to?

While driving the forty-five minutes or so to the airport, we had our obligatory speeding ticket scare. I mean, really, can you ever go on vacation and not have your heart jump in your throat and get an adrenaline rush incomparable to any ride in the park?

We stopped to fill the car up with gas. We did not want them to charge our credit card double the price of gas for not returning it with a full tank. Babe thought I should go ask the clerk which way to the airport. I’m sure she was thinking to herself, “do you seen a sign that says mapquest.com on my forehead?” She pointed us in the direction we were already headed. That was good. We were on the right track.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time to make our flight. We deposited the rental car in the quick-drop lot and hiked the mile and a half to our terminal carrying all of our bags (plus the new one).

They called our flight and we boarded the plan. I was very anxious about the flight home. It was crazy but it seemed like we were speeding up and slowing down while in mid-air. Every time the intercom came on or the seat belt light illuminated, I had a personal moment of panic.

As before, the plan was packed. I let Babe have the window seat. I had no desire to look at the ground so far below us.

In case I haven’t mentioned it, Babe is a sports nut. He pointed out that we were flying over Atlanta. He immediately spotted the Georgia Dome and Turner Field. I did take a peak out the window to see these two things. Which later on sounded crazy, I’ve seen them before. It’s just something different to see them from the air.

I was glad when the pilot told us that we only had about twenty minutes to go. As we were making our descent, I heard the voice of Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt in my head saying “we‘re going down, definitely going down.” That was immediately followed by Robin Williams as the Genie saying “Mayday, mayday.” I hear these voices from time to time. I’m seeking treatment.

My mother was coming to pick us up at the airport and I could not wait to see our boy. I was tempted to push the little old ladies out of my way so I could get off the plane to see him. Our girl was at school and I did not want her to miss it just to come see us at the airport. I had told her all week that I would come get her at school.

I had asked my mom not to tell the boy that he was coming to get us that morning. I wanted to see the look on his face when he saw us come through the gate. I thought it would be a look of excitement. It was not what I was hoping for. He got a mad look on his face and buried his head in my mom’s knees.

He was sad because he thought he was coming to see the airplanes. Seeing us coming through the gate meant that he was not going to get on a plane but instead he was going home. It only lasted a second and then he was peeping out at me and I picked him up. He hugged me and I hugged him back. I showered him with kisses and then reluctantly passed him over to Babe so he could get some sugar, too.

We made our way to the baggage carousel to collect our bags. It seemed like ours were the last ones off the plane. Then we headed to the car. We had Mom run through a drive through for some breakfast. Then we took our luggage home. We weren’t in a hurry. Our girl did not get out of school until 3:00.

We went to Mom’s to get our car seats and kids’ belongings.

I had waited as long as I could. I had to get the girl. I did not care if she was marked as leaving school early. I had to see her.

We drove to her school. Her class was playing on the playground. She was right in front of us. I walked over to the fence. It was a minute before she saw me. Then she did a double-take. It was as if I could read her thoughts. She was thinking, “is that my mom?” Then she realized it was really us. She ran the full length of the fence to the gate and jumped into my arms.

She hugged me tight.

And long.

That was the reception I was looking for. I carried her over to the teacher and told her that we were leaving. I was her mom and I was taking her home because I COULD. I had waited a long time to see her. I wanted to spend some quality time with her and her brother.

We had gathered the other half of our family.

I think Dorothy said it best, there’s no place like home.

And that’s all I have to say about that.


I’ll be back….