I don't think I woke up too badly today (my notebook is still AWOL so I'll have to carry on without it!) - I think it was around 7am when I woke which was much better, and we had set the alarm for around 7.30am so that wasn't too bad. I had already packed a bag for us both yesterday as today, we were moving to RPR for the night!! I was really excited to FINALLY get to a park, as I'm sure you will be to finally get some proper action!! I doubled checked our bag to make sure we had everything we needed, and made sure to double check I had our RPR confirmation and our Universal tickets! I got the laptop up and running and decided to Skype the taxi company instead of using the room's phone - we had been recommended to call Checker Cabs, and I had seen them pass the other day so had written down the number on the side. I had no problems with phoning them, and they told us they would meet us outside the hotel. I quickly left the maid her tips for today and tomorrow on the bed, and we were on our way down!
I was literally running for the taxi, and I swear the lift was going slower than usual! The taxi found us no problems, and we were finally on the way to RPR. It is a really short journey from our hotel, and we can see it from our window at the Sheraton, but we'd have to walk along a pretty big road to get there, and we didn't really know the way. I think it was around $6 to get there and I left him $10. I believe it was around 8.30am by now, so we made it over to Check-In which didn't take long at all, and I opted not to leave a CC number on my account. They told me my room wasn't ready, which we expected, so we left our bag with Luggage Services and proceeded to find the boat which would take us over to Universal Studios - FINALLY! It was opening at 9am, which meant we wouldn't be too far behind park opening.
We found the boat launch no problem, it's pretty well signposted and only a 5 minute walk from the main building. There were quite a few people there when we arrived, but we managed to get onto the boat okay, and bag a seat closest to the water/IOA so we could see everything that we were passing like the Lighthouse and Dr Doom, and I got VERY excited!!
We got off the boat at Citywalk and proceeded to head for US, when I saw the globe I got even more excited still! Of course we had to take the obligatory photos with the globe, and we took our first photos of the day on the bridge.
Momentary excitement... okay who am I kidding, momentary hysteria occurred when we spotted Homer and Marge Simpson over at the entrance to Universal Studios. Both me and Els are HUGE Simpsons fans so we rushed over... only to be told that they were going indoors in a moment, and then Lisa and Bart would be out in 10 minutes or so - BOO!! We want a photo with our main man Homer! It was a tough decision to wait it out or hit our first park hard, but we were so excited for Universal, we chose the park. We rushed over to the front of the Globe for some more photos,
before queuing up and entering the park. It seemed quite quiet at this time of the morning, and we knew which ride we wanted to go on first!! JAWS! This is Els' all time favourite movie, and you'll see a bit further along in the TR that he just loves sharks - I have no idea why.
Entering Amity, we were practically the only ones beyond the Mummy Ride,:
and I loved seeing the different sets and street, and made Els take some photos along the way:
We literally ran the whole way and it was boiling! I had read beforehand that the big Jaws photo op gets crowded later in the day, so we made sure we got a couple of photos when it was quiet now.
We got to Jaws and didn't even use our FOTL pass, and got straight on. This was a fun first ride to go on! We got a great skipper who was really into it and we really enjoyed it! We were on the lefthand side of the boat, but didn't get wet at all, but I got some really good shots of Jaws!!
From here, we had no real plan, but made our way towards Men In Black. We put our stuff in lockers, and despite there being no queue again we used FOTL this time, just because we could!! I thought MIB was a really good ride, it was quite long, but to tell the truth I didn't really know what I was shooting at since I couldn't see any targets - needless to say, Els won!
We pass the new Simpsons ride along the way, and are greeted with this:
I take the opportunity to take a photo 'alongside' my favourite Simpsons character, Ralphy:
We go to ride ET, but we are informed that it is currently broken down - I really hope it opens up later! We walk down towards Terminator 2 3D, not intending to watch it, and we happen to be in the right place at the right time when a bus load of characters jump out and we are the first to get our photos taken with Bullwinkle & George!
Since we are quite near Shrek 4-D, we decide to see that, and even with our FOTL privilege it's a bit of a queue, but understandably since it is a show and not a ride. However, I thought the pre-show in here was waaaaay too long - I must point out though, that I hate pre-shows! Just get me on the ride already! I thought bits of it were very cute, but I must say I wasn't a too big a fan of the storyline itself. I can't really remember it now so it must not have been that good! I do love Shrek though! We're all let out, and of course I want to have a photo taken with Donkey and Shrek who is waiting near the exit. There is a 10 minute queue and I can tell Els isn't too keen to queue since it's so. blooming. hot. I swear, it was one of THE hottest days today, it was awful. We queue anyway, and it doesn't take long to meet the twosome! Donkey was too funny - he asked where we came from, and when I said Wales he replied "You live in a Whale? Like Pinocchio? How did you get out?" Speed of lightening I replied, "Through the blowhole" - his reaction was really funny, he was like "Giirrrl this is a family show, you can't say that!!" Shrek was also very cute!
Since we were in a bit of a character mood, I could see from my Itinerary card that Spongebob would be in the Nick Store, and we were nearby, so we'd go and have a looksee. As we walked to the back, a woman announced Spongebob would be out in 5 minutes so we raced and were 2nd in line to see the Bikini Bottom cutie! Just in time too, as Jimmy Neutron let out next door! I was half hoping that Patrick would be with him since I just loooove Patrick! Unfortunately he wasn't but we were still excited to meet Bob! I could've spent a fortune in the store there, but came away with just a photoframe of SB and Patrick.
Next up for us was Twister, again with the pre-show! But I really loved this attraction! I thought it was really good! We were finally at Revenge of the Mummy again, so we threw our stuff in a locker and raced through the queue - we literally got straight on - we love FOTL! This ride was AWESOME! Easily the best in Universal Studios! It kind of reminded me of Valhalla in BPB if you've been on that, in that it's not a 'hardcore' coaster IMO, but the effects and props are amazing! Four thumbs up from these coaster freaks! Of course, we got off and went straight back on - no wait!
By now we had done quite a bit, and I was dying for a drink so thought it would be a good time to go for lunch. It was 11.45am by now and there was a bit of a queue but plenty of room to sit inside. A man started speaking to me in the queue with the question, can I tell you a secret? Umm sure.... He wanted to tell me about the Meal Deal Bands. I said, okay thanks for letting me know, even though I knew already of course. He seemed incredulous that I didn't want to buy any, and kept on going, they sell them right outside! We were only planning on a light lunch and wanted to try Bubba Gump for dinner, PLUS drinks weren't included so this wasn't a good deal for us. The soda machine also wasn't working this day so we had to get a large lemonade instead of our usual Sprite.
Out we went and made for Earthquake. Again loooooong pre-show, but I really loved when we finally got into the train. A bit of stuff I wasn't expecting which was pretty cool! I considered going on it later in the day, but the neverending pre-show put me off a bit.
Since we were quite near Amity, we decided to ride Jaws again. We showed our FOTL and got straight on again. Somehow we got the same skipper again, and I decided to film the ride this time around. It made for really cool viewing once we got back home. Over the bridge we go, and decide to try ET again, which thankfully was working this time! The little card thing is cute so ET can say your name, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra queuing. For some reason though, I loved this ride! ET was one of my favourite movies as a kid and the fact we got to sit front row was really cool!
When we got out, the heat was really starting to get to us, and we roamed around looking for a slushie drink - which we found in the form of a lemon slushie and shared. We still haven't seen Terminator 2 3D, so we start walking over past Shrek. One of those street entertainers comes over and tells me off for 'doodling' on Els' arm whilst he's asleep (he has a tattoo) which was really funny and I got it all on film! I also got Shrek jumping over the fence to dance with them! I spotted Princess Fiona in the meet and greet really quickly, and was disappointed not to have her earlier.
There was around 15 minutes wait for the next Terminator and we decided to wait inside where there was AC - however my feet were killing (I had no
crocs!) and there was nowhere to sit, which resulted in a very whiny me. When we finally got into the show, we were say right over on the left hand side which I thought were bad seats, but a lot of the action was happening over here and we were very close to the actors! This was a great show and very clever!
I think the weather had defeated us at this point, so we headed over to the Mummy for another ride (excellent again!) and to the US Store to buy some stuff. I came away with 2 postcards and a magnet... last of the big spenders huh?! However I did try on a very fetching hat!
We grabbed a large sprite on the way out, which was about $3.19 and headed over to the water taxi. It was around 3.30pm now, so we were hoping our room would be ready and we were excited to see it!
Next TR: Our RPR room, Bubba Gump (Dining TR), and Back to US at night!
I didn't include photos of the rides, etc. as I figured you have seen them all anyway!!
Looking forward to reading more...
Can't wait for the rest of the report.
great TR! Can't wait to see the pics of your RPR room - would love to say there next time we visit US 
FOTL would be a godsend 
their coconut shrimp. We have one about an hour away and just yesterday one of my friends said I think we need to take a trip to Bubba Gump for some coconut shrimp! I said let me know when!!! 
I'll know what to get! I'm so glad I realised just in time about the water, I thought it was free! I was about to open the lid and it was one of those movie-slow-motion NOOOOOOOOO! moments! I bet a lot of people open it without realising!
