Thumping Our Way Through Disneyland.

[Thumper_Man]

I really wish they had built a stadium to watch Fantasmic at DL, but then I guess that would block the view of Tom Sawyer Island and make NO Square ugly.

I actually liked the way it was presented here. Lack of seating was the only bummer, but we made it work.

I don't think folks are supposed to stay in the ECV while the vehicle is moving. Yes, the cart is strapped down, but the rider isn't. Shuttles and buses are made with shock-absorbing backs to the seats, so in a crash, you would be thrown into a kind of stiff pillow. On an ECV, you would be thrown into the steering mechanism. Not good.

Thanks for the clarification. Wasn't sure what the rules were. Makes more sense to me now.

We were told at WDW, however, that a few of us could stay with the ECV driver, but if we had a larger group, the rest would have to wait in the other line, and get on when it was their turn, not with the ECV. That seems fair, I think.

This wasn't a Disney operated shuttle though. Since we all paid for our passes, I guess it's also fair to say first come, first serve.

Over at WDW, you read a lot of stories about people abusing this. Put one person in a ecv/wheelchair so the whole group can skip the regular lines. I think it was even discussed briefly on Nebo's TR. This is probably why WDW has limited the number of people who can go with the ecv/wheelchair.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I can see it now...
"See? Isn't this great? Instead of mopping up the mess, you can just sweep it up or vacuum it!"

... and then a gust of wind came along...

EWWW!!!

 

[nebo]

Thanks for the great update, T-Man.



A comet regarding vomit (hate to resurrect that topic, but I totally forgot about it on Nebo's TR). They now have some sort of spray that reduces it to basically dust than you can just sweep up. Not that I have ever witnessed it, and I have no plans to either.....

So, I'm the official spew reporter now, too?
ok, I can live with that.
But Marita, were you making a typo saying a "comment reguarding vomit, or did you mean Comet, the cleanser?
and should I write a Comet Vomit Sonnet while we're on it?
I have seen that stuff in action though, for anyone who's worked in a shop, it's basically a type of "Oil Dry".
Very effective.

We were told at WDW, however, that a few of us could stay with the ECV driver, but if we had a larger group, the rest would have to wait in the other line, and get on when it was their turn, not with the ECV. That seems fair, I think.

I hadn't heard of that change in policy, or seen it yet enforced, but it sounds more than fair to me.
Like I said before, that morning we waited for the woman in the ECV to load, after she got on so did the rest of her group, which included the Green Bay Packers and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

I was hoping some dude would've gone first and told us about it. Take it he actually stays on his feet the whole time there.

It has been clinically proven that even if the Dude stays on his feet that doesn't necessarilly mean that trouble will be avoided.
Actually, Funtasmic is my least favorite nighttime Disney show. I think the end would be so much more dramatic if they would accompany Mickey standing on the top of the mountain with some real fireworks , instead of a couple of sparklers going off.
My main thiought now when the spotlight hits Ol' Mick standing up there in all his glory is "What a target!"

You let the line back in, you make the line get out.
You let the line back in, and make people want to shout.
You do the hokey pokey til the CM's figure it out.
That's what it's all about.

You're not going to do tthe Chicken Dance at the Dawa Bar too, are you?


Yeah. It worked out well. Too bad DL is a dry theme park. We covered that later on in the trip though.

What?
Oh where have I gone wrong?
I thought I taught you well. There ARE no dry parks in Disney, not unless you let it be that way.
WHat with fuzzy cups, Sunny D's, little airplane bottles,
I usually set up a stand in Frontierland. Although I do see
that you and Lady H are mostly beer drinkers, which is more problematic, requiring tubes, body molded reservoirs and refridgerants, but it can be done. You just have to find an outlet to plug yourself in once an hour to keep the beer cold, but hey, if you like your beer,,,




Yeah. There are what appear to be large wooden storage crates around the viewing area. Hidden inside these crates, below ground level, are actually the lights for the show. They are on hydraulic lifts. Before the show begins, they are lifted to ground level, so they look like they'll be in the way. Once it gets closer to show time, they lift the lights.

I found a good thread on here explaining the lights (along with pictures) so you can see what I'm talking about. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2225094

ah, ok, now I get it. Normally I hate to agree with the Canadian Bacon but I didn't get what you meant at first either.

Well I did. She ruined my video and pictures.

When there are people in my way and I want them to go away, I use one of two methods to accomplish that, with about a 55 percent success rate.
Method one is the usually effective, "Wow, how long IS that thing, do you think it's poisonous?"
Or, with the older crowd;
"Uh oh honey, this is not good, I don't think I should have had that third chili-cheese dog after all, not after all that beer." Usually by the time I get to " Does it seem as if things are starting to spin around?" the offending people have skedaddled.



Thanks. For a minute there, it seemed our thread just died and I lost all the readers.

Mike, these are not your normal sane readers over here. Unfortunately, a lot of them are from my thread, and they'll be the first to admit, they want BLOOD.
Somehow, they have gotten more than a taste for it and now there's no going back, Ponzi found that out as well.
I don't mean to be derogatory, they a ll have huge hearts and mean well, but that doesn't change the fact they want blood. Even the lovely Backstage Gal would have had a season pass for the Colosseum back in the day, holding her thumb either up or down.





Thanks for breakdown.

Thanks for the chapter Mikey.

Nah. You had a choice, you could've just skipped it altogether. (Everyone: “You could’ve just skipped it!!)

You could have just skipped it.
True story:

Yesterday, I got the mail and was going through it when I saw the telltale red Netflix envelope.

And I just said outloud to no one in particular,
"Oh, we got a new movie." I hadn't even opened it yet.

Diane: A movie? What is it?

And yes, it came right down the middle and I did not miss it, you know what the response was, even Diane said
"Thank you Leslie" letting me know she got it

If somebody out there didn't get the unfinished joke just now, Mike or Ponzi will be glad to splain it to you, I'm sure.
But really, how often are you set up like that?

On second thought, you couldn’t skip it. There’s some dude who keeps insisting on comparison shopping.

All this "Dude-ing" I'm starting to feel like Dean Martin in one of my top five westerns, Rio Bravo.

.



I guess it’s just Disney. Or maybe it’s me being a father. Either way, I don’t mind that.

That's cuz it's YOU that Ruby is putting on her shoulders so you can get a better view.

Thanks for all the pics and the great breakdown. I was impress by the dragon and the pirate ship in particular.



That’s great. Thanks for the… uh, wait. There’s more? But you already had the perfect ending!

Yes, I was hoping you were done too.

Gee, and I just read another TR where a very similar thing happened.

Yeah? AND SO, what happened? (oh, this is gonna be good!)


Except when you put down the camcorder with the video with the girl on her Daddy’s shoulders, you forgot to turn it off and… now you’re being sued for $100 million.

Oh, wait. That’s Hulk Hogan.

Oh no, he said he didn't know they were filming it.
You'd think when the director yelled out "Action" that might have given it away.

I get you guys mixed up.

Wait, Mike and the Hulk? I got lost and confused reading just the one sides here.

No worries. You’re doing just fine.



Terrible thing when you have to actually work at work. Thanks for chapter Mike! :

And after Ponzi took all this time breaking it down, I'd like to give credit too, Thanks for the chapter, Mike.

 

[pkondz]

You could have just skipped it.

Thank you.

True story:

Yesterday, I got the mail and was going through it when I saw the telltale red Netflix envelope.

And I just said outloud to no one in particular,
"Oh, we got a new movie." I hadn't even opened it yet.

Diane: A movie? What is it?

And yes, it came right down the middle and I did not miss it, you know what the response was, even Diane said
"Thank you Leslie" letting me know she got it

Perfect set up!

I guess it’s just Disney. Or maybe it’s me being a father. Either way, I don’t mind that.

That's cuz it's YOU that Ruby is putting on her shoulders so you can get a better view.

I fail to see a problem with that. Sure she struggles... but what a great view for me!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

I don't mean to be derogatory, they a ll have huge hearts and mean well, but that doesn't change the fact they want blood. Even the lovely Backstage Gal would have had a season pass for the Colosseum back in the day, holding her thumb either up or down.

Hey, I object! I do not like blood nor wish misfortune on anyone! I want everyone to have a great time and live to tell about it. And I most certainly would not have bought tickets for the Colosseum.

 

[cjlvsccm]

Diane: A movie? What is it?


It's moving pictures on film, viewed for entertainment.

 

[mmeb144]

Diane: A movie? What is it?


It's moving pictures on film, viewed for entertainment.

Thanks! I was having a hard time remembering the punch line.

 

[pkondz]

Diane: A movie? What is it?


It's moving pictures on film, viewed for entertainment.

Don't forget the "But that's not important right now." part.

 

[Thumper_Man]

It has been clinically proven that even if the Dude stays on his feet that doesn't necessarilly mean that trouble will be avoided.

Oh that's right. He likes to walk into walls with his shins to.

Actually, Funtasmic is my least favorite nighttime Disney show. I think the end would be so much more dramatic if they would accompany Mickey standing on the top of the mountain with some real fireworks , instead of a couple of sparklers going off.
My main thiought now when the spotlight hits Ol' Mick standing up there in all his glory is "What a target!"

Well considering this is all DL has besides Fireworks, there really isn't too much night time entertainment. So, as it's been so graciously pointed out to me that we could've just skipped it, we didn't really want to skip it since that's all there pretty much is.

You're not going to do tthe Chicken Dance at the Dawa Bar too, are you?

Nah. We were thinking of doing something more modern. The Wobble or Cupid Shuffle maybe?

What?
Oh where have I gone wrong?
I thought I taught you well. There ARE no dry parks in Disney, not unless you let it be that way.
WHat with fuzzy cups, Sunny D's, little airplane bottles,
I usually set up a stand in Frontierland. Although I do see
that you and Lady H are mostly beer drinkers, which is more problematic, requiring tubes, body molded reservoirs and refridgerants, but it can be done. You just have to find an outlet to plug yourself in once an hour to keep the beer cold, but hey, if you like your beer,,,

Uh-Hum. I said we would take care of this problem later.

We tend to be more beer drinkers I think because it's usually more available in the parks. Plus tends to be a little cheaper on the wallet. Let me post a friendly reminder of what we had at SH 55. Just in case you forgot already. You did hit your head after all.

One Chocolate Martini for Lady H


And Mai Tai for myself


Now does that look like beer to you?

ah, ok, now I get it. Normally I hate to agree with the Canadian Bacon but I didn't get what you meant at first either.

I guess the phrase "you have to see it for yourself" comes to mind, to actually know what I'm talking about. Glad I found that thread to help explain it better.

When there are people in my way and I want them to go away, I use one of two methods to accomplish that, with about a 55 percent success rate.
Method one is the usually effective, "Wow, how long IS that thing, do you think it's poisonous?"
Or, with the older crowd;
"Uh oh honey, this is not good, I don't think I should have had that third chili-cheese dog after all, not after all that beer." Usually by the time I get to " Does it seem as if things are starting to spin around?" the offending people have skedaddled.

What about the other 45% of the time?

Mike, these are not your normal sane readers over here. Unfortunately, a lot of them are from my thread, and they'll be the first to admit, they want BLOOD.
Somehow, they have gotten more than a taste for it and now there's no going back, Ponzi found that out as well.
I don't mean to be derogatory, they a ll have huge hearts and mean well, but that doesn't change the fact they want blood. Even the lovely Backstage Gal would have had a season pass for the Colosseum back in the day, holding her thumb either up or down.

Well I did knick myself shaving. Think that's enough blood to satisfy them?

Thanks for breakdown.

No, thank you sir.

And after Ponzi took all this time breaking it down, I'd like to give credit too, Thanks for the chapter, Mike.

Of course he had time. No new chapters on your TR yet. But you are welcome. I'm already busy working on DCA while Lady H takes you through USH.

 

[nebo]

Pssst,

Here's a secret for you;



There is a mad flurry of construction activity going on at the Universal Studios, Florida.
While the old Amity/Jaws area is being transformed into a London/Harry Potter Diagon Alley section, they are also building a Transformer ride on the other side of the park, similar to what they have at Hollywood.
All I know about the ride is that it's similar to Spiderman, so I DO hope you are going to cover that when Lady H does her report on the Studios.

IMO, Spidey is the greatest ride/attraction in the COUNTRY!

No, Uni isn't admitting Transformers yet, but my sources are good.

I think.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Pssst,

Here's a secret for you;



There is a mad flurry of construction activity going on at the Universal Studios, Florida.
While the old Amity/Jaws area is being transformed into a London/Harry Potter Diagon Alley section, they are also building a Transformer ride on the other side of the park, similar to what they have at Hollywood.
All I know about the ride is that it's similar to Spiderman, so I DO hope you are going to cover that when Lady H does her report on the Studios.

IMO, Spidey is the greatest ride/attraction in the COUNTRY!

No, Uni isn't admitting Transformers yet, but my sources are good.

I think.

Well if you really want to know about Transformers, let me tell you about it real quick. If you think Spiderman is good, well Transformers is ............................................................................

Tune in later and Lady H will tell you all about it.

 

[bankr63]

Pssst,

Here's a secret for you;



There is a mad flurry of construction activity going on at the Universal Studios, Florida.
While the old Amity/Jaws area is being transformed into a London/Harry Potter Diagon Alley section, they are also building a Transformer ride on the other side of the park, similar to what they have at Hollywood.
All I know about the ride is that it's similar to Spiderman, so I DO hope you are going to cover that when Lady H does her report on the Studios.

IMO, Spidey is the greatest ride/attraction in the COUNTRY!

No, Uni isn't admitting Transformers yet, but my sources are good.

I think.

Just 'cause I'm too lazy to go surfing around the Uni threads, any word on opening dates yet? We'll be back in USF/IOA in March for a day or two - would be nice to have a new attraction to try! Of course I may have to do Chinese Fireball this time as I've already been on the Hungarian Horntail with DS. That is one INTENSE coaster, and will take a while to recover from.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Just 'cause I'm too lazy to go surfing around the Uni threads, any word on opening dates yet? We'll be back in USF/IOA in March for a day or two - would be nice to have a new attraction to try! Of course I may have to do Chinese Fireball this time as I've already been on the Hungarian Horntail with DS. That is one INTENSE coaster, and will take a while to recover from.

I haven't heard about dates yet, but I haven't really been doing much in regards to research on it. T-Man may be able to give you more info. As for the Dragon Challenge ride, I agree with you 100%. Every time I ride that one, no matter which dragon side I am on, I need time to recover. But of course that's what the Hogs Head Pub is for. Gives us a chance to sit down afterwards and have a Hogs Head Brew or two before moving on to the next ride.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Well actually it was some poor kid got sick in line. There are 2 separate lines to get on the train. One to the left and one to the right. Well the poor kid got sick in the line to the right. So the CM’s closed of this area and had us all move to the left. About a minute or so later, they realize that maybe they can open part of the lane. Or not. About a minute before the train pulled in, they finally opened the right lane. Another CM (armed with a big can of industrial strength lysol, paper towels and trash bag) was sent to clean up the mess. While cleaning up the mess, the CM’s decided it would be safe to partially open up the right side. So they sent some of the crowd back to the right. I wish they would make up my mind which way I need to go to get on the train.

What I laughed at was, they were pretty much done cleaning it all up, and there was a line waiting for the train in that section before they decided that they should move everyone over to the other side. I looked at T-Man and thought, shouldn't they have moved everyone once the kid threw up so they didn't have to sit there watching someone clean it up in the first place? But I guess they need witnesses to the clean up, but then have to give everyone an exercise routine to make sure everyone else is good, so there are no other clean ups necessary. "If we get them nice and dizzy, and no one else throws up, then we can put them back in this section for the next train."

Anyways, people are already standing up along the railings that weren’t being guarded. Across the walkway is a wall where people are already starting to sit. We see a couple of empty spots and decide to grab them and wait 2 long hours.

And grab them we did. We sort of spread out a little too. Placing our back packs on either side of us so we had that extra few inches to stretch, since we would be there for a while. Seems some people think that is just a holding area and the moment we move the bag to grab something from inside, they almost pounce on the spot. It's crazy!

Right now you’re all thinking we were nuts. No way would you wait 2 hours. By this time, the lines were long for the rides and we were starting to feel a little dragged out. Thought we would sit and rest a while.

I have to apologize to T-Man here. We are usually go go go all day long in the parks. Stopping periodically for either a drink or a snack if need be, but otherwise we don't take many breaks for rest. DSIL thinks her brother is a slave driver at times. So I know I get on him about giving us some time to rest and enjoy the experience. Well here we are, getting a great span of time to relax and enjoy and I turn into the Wicked Witch of the West for a time. I really did get a little crabby while we were waiting. I think I was just tired and hurting and trying to hide the fact that I was hurting and took it out on him a little. I'm sorry honey!

It had been a while since we had lunch. Even after the huge platter, we were starting to get a little hungry and thirsty. I set out to get us a couple of drinks while Lady H held our spot tight with both arms. Which was a good thing. Some lady was trying to move in and take control. Lady H was having none of it and threatened to use her pepper spray to keep them away. This worked for a little while, but not too long. Lady H would tell me about it once I came back with a couple of sodas and Ice Cream. Mickey Bar for her and Nestle Cookie Sandwich for me. Now we’ve heard of people watching was fun to help pass the time, so we did. While munching on our ice cream, we’re looking around and I spot an open area right behind us. It’s a little area and part of it was fenced off to keep people out of the bushes and trees, but accessible for people to get to. It’s higher up and not directly off the walking path which we were currently on. I tell Lady H I’m going to see what the view is like from here. I go and examine the area. No trees in the way if we stand here. Don’t look like it’s a handicapped area as I didn’t see any signs. I think it will do. I come back for Lady H and our bags, and we head off to our new viewing spot. No sooner did we move and stalker lady comes in and takes the spots. She had more people with her now. Think she was assembling the troops for an all out war. No matter, she won’t be there long anyways.

The lady and her husband were eying our spot for a while I think, and as soon as T-Man left they were ready to move in. The lady tried to sit practically on top of me on my right side, which was were T-Man was sitting. He had left his bad, and I had scooted over to my left a little, and set my bag with his to create a little more space to save, for when he came back. I swear if I hadn't moved the backpack, she would have sat on it. I looked at her and told her, "Excuse me, My husband is sitting there and will be right back." she looked at me like I was an alien and then gave me the biggest dirty look ever before moving.

She then proceeds to move to the other side of me. There is about a good 4 feet or so between where I am sitting and the end of this wall to the stairs leading up and over to the restaurant behind us. There is also a trash can that is taking up a good foot of that space. But that didn't seem to phase these people, as the lady sat practically right on top of me now on my left hand side, and the husband sits right next to her, which put him just behind the trash can. So now every time someone wants to throw something away, they have to work their way around him and her to do so. And the looks they are giving these poor people who are doing nothing but making sure they are not litter bugs was ridiculous. I think this is where I realized what a sour puss I was being and tried to be better for the rest of the time we were waiting.

Soon it’s starting to get close to showtime and more YJ’s are buzzing about.
They’re busy building their nest and roping off part of the walk way to make a path for through traffic. They’re evening scaring away the people who were sitting in our previous spot, including the lady that moved in after we left.

To say the least the lady and her husband were not very happy. They had been sitting there a while and were pretty much ready to move in. I think one of them had literally laid down on the wall to wait it out. When they were "evicted" the lady kept trying to just inch herself down the wall, thinking that if she wasn't sitting in that one particular 6 inch section, then she could at least sit in this one, and I have to say it was quite funny to watch as she would inch herself off to her left, and think she was being sneaky, before the YJ's would come to tell her to once again move. After a few times of being told to move, she moved off the wall, and stood by the trash can, before finally trying her luck on the stairs next to the trash can. I lost track of her after that.

And the winner is: It’s a draw.

I have to say I'm in agreance with T-Man here. I really can't say I liked one above the other. Each one had their own special things that made it unique and interesting. Which I liked because I for one did not feel like I had seen this for the hundredth time.

Fantasmic is over and we wait for the crowds to start clearing out. It’s time for the running of the bulls. We stayed waiting for the crowds to push, kick and shove their way to the front of the park and the exits. Once we saw it was safe we started making our way out to the exits as well.

This was one thing I did like about the DL version, or at least the place Fantasmic was being shown here in DL as opposed to WDW. Even though there were tons of people almost everywhere you looked, It wasn't that difficult to get through the crowds. Maybe because everyone was so spread out, and there were so many possible exits, even if you went the long way around, it was worth it. Unlike WDW were you only have one way in and one way out.

There is only thing that will stop all these people dead in their tracks. Fireworks. About 5 minutes after Fantasmic had ended they started up. We stepped off to the side to enjoy the show. I stood behind Lady H, wrapped my arms around her and enjoyed the moment. It felt like the fireworks were going off for us in celebration of our anniversary; and celebrating the end of a magical day over at DL. What a perfect ending to a perfect day.

It definitely was a great way to end the night. We had at one point said we wouldn't stay for the fireworks, because my back was starting to get to me, but the minute they started and I leaned into him, I knew I wouldn't have done it any other way.



OK all, I am hoping to get the next chapter up tonight. Just putting the finishing touches on it.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

“Let me ‘splain…No, there‘s too much, let me sum up.”

The day we fly here, We get up at the crack of dawn. The next day, again up at the crack of dawn. (I think T-Man let me sleep about 30 minutes more, what a sweetheart!). So naturally, here we are, Monday morning. On vacation. No work. What do we do?

That’s right folks, you have been paying attention. We once again get up at the crack of dawn! I believe we had planned for another 30 minutes extra today for sleep, but I am pretty sure that didn’t happen. We wanted to be on the road early, because today we have the exciting drive to Universal Studios Hollywood

. Which means, we get to drive to LA. Which means, we need to get out of here now or else we will be stuck in rush hour traffic that will take a week to get out of!

So sleeping beauty gets up

, and thankfully her prince charming is there to welcome her awake with a nice steaming cup of coffee. Bless him. Of course, after 5 years of marriage he knows what I can be like in the morning, and knows if he wants to live to see tomorrow he must talk to me after coffee has been issued.

We take care of the necessities, get dressed in our Monday Universal clothes and start packing our provisions. No, not those provisions. This is Universal, They sell alcohol in the park. No need to take any with us. Plus, trying to pack beer in the backpack can get awfully heavy, and once they get hot, they are not worth it. When I want a beer, I want an ice cold one, not a luke warm one from a locker.

We did pack some waters, and the necessary sunscreen for my precious sun sensitive skin. We had charged the camera batteries the night before to make sure there were no surprises, we also packed extra camera batteries, and extra cell phone batteries just to be safe. We knew that we would be out there for the majority of the day and evening, so best to be prepared.


Have you ever watched Jeff Dunham’s stand up comedy or Ventriloquism act? He is a terrific ventriloquist, and hilarious to boot. One of the dummy’s, wait…I’m sorry, that may not be politically correct. One of the puppets? (I don’t think that sounds any better), is Peanut, who is a strange purple monkey type thing, who speaks his mind and doesn’t really care whether he offends anyone or not.. Most of the time he does his best to offend the other puppet Jose, who is a Jalapeno on a stick.


Anyway, I’m getting off track here…

I think Jeff Dunham via Peanut said it best in one of the skits where Jeff is trying to get Peanut to remember what city they are in:


"Jeff: The drive from the valley?
Peanut: Was bad as h**l
Jeff: Traffic?
Peanut: Sucked like h**l
Jeff: Drivers?
Peanut: Angry as h**l
Jeff: And you?
Peanut: Were scared as h**l
Jeff: Parking?
Peanut: Sucked more like h**l
Jeff: So?
Peanut: Oh my god, we’re in H**l!"

This was our ride to downtown LA.

I can be a little freaked out when it comes to being a passenger on drives like this. People are crazy on freeways. They are even more crazy when it comes to construction or merging. I tend to freak out T-Man at times when I grab onto the handles in the car, but you have to understand. I have an astigmatism in my left eye, and I have no depth perception, which means that even if that car in front of us is about 2-3 car lengths away, it looks like we are about 2-3 inches away from him. (Slight exaggeration but still…).

Let me try to paint a picture of the traffic that morning…Nah, better yet, let me just describe it. I can barely draw a stick figure let alone vehicles and roads and such.

The good thing in California is the car pool lane. If you have two or more people in your vehicle, you can take the car pool lane and for the most part, it can get you through traffic pretty easily. Not to say there won’t be some slow downs now and then, but it does help. The problem with this car pool lane, is that its all the way on the left side of the freeway. The exits that you will need, are all the way to the right side of the freeway. In between are cars. Lots and lots of cars.

To get into the car pool lane you must find the “in” section, visible only by the markings on the road. Dotted lines show that it is ok to cross over. Solid lines or double lines, not OK. Your hope is that you can find a dotted line the moment you see your exit coming up, so you can power merge all the way to the other side to get to your exit without taking out anyone or anyone taking you out in the process.

We begin our journey on I-5 and by now it’s getting really close to 8am. Not good. But the way I figure it, everyone is trying to get somewhere by 8am, so maybe the traffic won’t be as bad as if we left at 7? Right?

The park doesn’t open until 10am, so we have time to get there. The trusty GPS lady tells us that its about a 45 minute ride to the park. No fast pass for this ride.. So we must wait in line…and when I say we must wait in line, I’m not joking.

Traffic was OK in the beginning, we get onto the Interstate and start making our way to the car pool lane. There are 2 of us in the vehicle, 3 if you include GPS lady. So we qualify. Finally get into the far left lane and off we go. Traffic is still pretty heavy, but we are cruising along at a decent pace, I’m thinking, Awesome! We should be there in no time…That will teach me to think.

We go from a 6 lane road to 3. Construction on the Interstate has cut off the car pool lane, along with at least 2 other lanes. Which means we are all at a standstill for a while because no one knows what to do. It’s like a ride at Disney has broken down and everyone is trying to see ahead of them to see what the problem is. Slowly we merge into the middle lane and are passing construction equipment and cones, but no one is doing anything. People are weaving in and out of traffic just to get about 5 inches ahead of us. For the next hour and a half we are pretty much inching our way to Universal.

My absolute pet peeve is people who wait until the last minute to merge in a construction zone, when they know about a good 5 miles back that one of the lanes will be closed. Then they try to squeeze in front of you with only about 2 feet of space for them to do so. In the process, possibly causing an accident that will now back up traffic even more, because they were too busy trying to pass every Tom, Dick and Harry before having to merge!

Finally we start to see the tall buildings of downtown LA and this is when you start to get excited. Of course like a idiot, I have my camera in my hand, but am too in awe to actually pick it up and start snapping pics. I’m calling out random things to Mike, “Oh look, there’s Capital Records!” “Oh awesome, look at that!” “Oh wow, there’s the Hollywood sign!” and he’s like, Hello…where’s the camera? By that time we are passed the landmark and there’s no point.

. I’ll snap the pics on our way back, it will be better, cooler, because they will all be lit up and stuff.

Finally we get to Universal, and of course you have to try to follow the yellow brick road, so to speak to find the parking area. This way for VIP’s, this way for team members, (Of course, some people do go both ways).

We find the parking structure we need, pay to park, and roll into the garage. For those that have never been to Universal, the parking structures, it’s an enclosed parking garage, and each “section” is named for a character from Universal Movies, (i.e., Frankenstien, The Mummy, Hulk, Jaws, King Kong, etc.). The first time we went to Universal in Orlando, we parked in the King Kong section. There is a running joke in our family now, because the first time we were there with my DSIL, she had just seen the movie for the first time and the moment I mentioned King Kong as we past under the sign, we hear her voice from the backseat go, “Oh…he dies!” I want to say Mike may have even hit the brake so he can turn to look at her and go, “Huh?”

Anyway, so it’s a random joke now that every time we see King Kong or anything mentioning King Kong, when we are around DSIL, we say, “He Dies!” She doesn’t think it’s that funny. We still get a kick out of it.

Back on track now…So we cruise into the parking structure and we’re wondering if we are going to get the King Kong section so we can send a pic to DSIL and again let her know of his unfortunate demise…sadly, Frankenstein won out this time around.


We park next to a group of Asian tourists (Not sure if they are Chinese, Japanese, or something ese…) and it’s like a clown car. As I’m waiting for the driver to close his door so I can open mine, I swear like 6 or 7 people climb out of the back seat. Wouldn’t be a big deal if the vehicle was a van, but it’s a small jeep type SUV. I think two or three would have maybe sat comfortably, but 6 or 7? really? And I’m watching these people hop out of the car one by one and thinking, where did they all sit? Was there a pyramid of people sitting on each other’s laps? How did the driver see out of the rear view mirror? Did he have the people at the top of the pyramid telling him if it was all clear?

Finally get out, grab out backpacks out of the trunk and make sure we have our tickets ready, and head to the escalator.

The escalator takes us to the next tier of the parking garage, so we keep going to the next escalator. This escalator takes us to the top tier of the parking garage and the bathrooms. We keep going. Finally this escalator takes us to the sidewalk that will lead us to the opening of the park.

We take a few pictures of the Universal Sign up front, and make sure to add a mental reminder to take more at night, because it lights up.



We walk around to the entrance



and look…They’ve rolled out the red carpet just for us!




Off to the left hand side is a person in a booth, shouting out to everyone who walks by to pick up their programs, i.e., park maps. We pick one up and walk the red carpet to the entrance and head on in.

Our goal now is to find a locker so we can put our bags away. The lockers are off to the right and easy enough to find. We pay the kiosk and it asks us to give it a 4 digit code that we can remember in order to get back into our locker throughout the day. We enter our super duper secret code, it asks us to do it again. We enter it again. It accepts it. Yay! Now we go in search of the locker the kiosk has issued us, stuff it with all our stuff, and close it. Just to be safe and sure, we enter our super duper secret code and yup, it opens. Phew!

I take Mr. T’s hand, and off we go in search of the one ride we HAVE to go on. If we do nothing else today, ride no other rides, we must make sure to take the Universal StudioTour.

As we walk, we notice the awesome scenery.



This was definitely the long and winding road leading to the trams for the studio tour. We walked past an area where they were taking pictures with the Hollywood sign backdrop, then we went down an escalator. Finally we come to the tram, but now have to wind our way through the chained off lines, weaving in and out, and up and down, to get to the front of the line. If you want the English version of the ride, you have to get into one line, if you want the Mandarin version, you go to that line, I think they even had a section for french speaking tourists.

I have to give it to them, If nothing else the line is entertaining. They have posters up every so often of all the different actors and movies that have come out of their studios since its inception. Trivia posters give you insight into the particular movie it’s representing or the actor in a particular movie. And TV’s are mounted along the top and bottom of each row giving you some information on movies, and actors, and of course the occasional rules and regulations of the ride.

At the end of the line, they give us a pair of 3D glasses, and then point us in the direction of yet another line to wait for our tram. The tram is technically 2 trams hitched together. Each tram has about 7 rows, and each row has 6 seats. Not a seat was empty when we got on. A family of 4, from Spain, or Mexico, or Columbia, or Venezuela, or one of those Spanish speaking countries, piled on in front of us. I say that only because they were yapping up a storm through the tour and constantly getting in front of my camera when I would try to take a picture, and then apologize to me profusely in spanish, then proceed to do it again at the next stop.

We were able to cram in to the last two seats available on the right hand side of the tram and as the safety door came down, Mike and I got our trusty camera’s out and were ready for the tour!

I’ll leave it there for now. I have a TON of pictures from the tour to show you, along with a very jam packed day of riding escalators, getting into trouble with the Mummy, avoiding spitting dinosaurs, and trying to save the city from Decepticons for the next upcoming chapters. So I will go write, delete, and re-write the chapters to make sure I do it all justice.

 

[smidgy]

oh boy! I'm anxious to hear about universal!!!

 

[Thumper_Man]

oh boy! I'm anxious to hear about universal!!!

At the rate this TR is moving, we may be able to tell you about in person.

 

[mmeb144]

TMW, please don't take too much time on the next chapter. I'm really enjoying your day, so far. I'm always happy when the lockers work. Nothing worse than the feeling that you locked your stuff away forever.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

TMW, please don't take too much time on the next chapter. I'm really enjoying your day, so far. I'm always happy when the lockers work. Nothing worse than the feeling that you locked your stuff away forever.

As long as work doesn't get in the way of play time, I should be able to get another chapter up soon. I'm already working on it.

and yes, no matter what locker we get, even if it has a key, I tend to be wary and have to double check that it will open for us again. Not that I couldn't go out and buy water or sunscreen if i couldn't get into the locker, but we do tend to bring another set of clothes, in case we get wet on a ride or it gets chilly at night, and we always bring an extra set of shoes for later. Those tend to be too expensive to replace.

 

[Thumper_Man]

The day we fly here, We get up at the crack of dawn. The next day, again up at the crack of dawn. (I think T-Man let me sleep about 30 minutes more, what a sweetheart!). So naturally, here we are, Monday morning. On vacation. No work. What do we do?

Well you knew ahead of time we were going to have to. Did I not go over the spreadsheet with you?

We wanted to be on the road early, because today we have the exciting drive to Universal Studios.

Which means, we get to drive to LA. Which means, we need to get out of here now or else we will be stuck in rush hour traffic that will take a week to get out of!

This was something I wasn't looking forward to. Especially since I'm the one driving.

So sleeping beauty gets up

,

Rise & Shine. It's Universal Time.

and thankfully her prince charming is there to welcome her awake with a nice steaming cup of coffee.

You mean to tell me I took coffee to a different sleeping beauty? Oops. My bad. She looked like you.

We take care of the necessities, get dressed in our Monday Universal clothes and start packing our provisions.

I didn't know we had clothes just for Universal on Monday's. I guess for our Orlando trip, I'll have to re-arrange our schedule so we can make sure to go to Universal on Monday over there. I would hate for these clothes to go to waste since I can't wear them on any other day of the week.

No, not those provisions.

Don't tell Nebo that. He's already disappointed in us.

This is Universal, They sell alcohol in the park. No need to take any with us. Plus, trying to pack beer in the backpack can get awfully heavy, and once they get hot, they are not worth it. When I want a beer, I want an ice cold one, not a luke warm one from a locker.

Would've been more like a luke warm one from the car. I don't know how we would've gotten them past the guards. Of course, there's a solution to that problem, drink them while they're still cold.

We did pack some waters, and the necessary sunscreen for my precious sun sensitive skin. We had charged the camera batteries the night before to make sure there were no surprises, we also packed extra camera batteries, and extra cell phone batteries just to be safe.

Given we are no where close to the resort, we're going prepared.

We knew that we would be out there for the majority of the day and evening, so best to be prepared.

A majority of the day? Did you have plans to go somewhere else? Then again, to be there all day, we would've had to been there since midnight. We were there before it opened until the time it closed and then some. So I guess technically, we were there a majority of the day.

I think Jeff Dunham via Peanut said it best in one of the skits where Jeff is trying to get Peanut to remember what city they are in:


"Jeff: The drive from the valley?
Peanut: Was bad as h**l
Jeff: Traffic?
Peanut: Sucked like h**l
Jeff: Drivers?
Peanut: Angry as h**l
Jeff: And you?
Peanut: Were scared as h**l
Jeff: Parking?
Peanut: Sucked more like h**l
Jeff: So?
Peanut: Oh my god, we’re in H**l!"

This was our ride to downtown LA.

Oh it wasn't that bad.

I can be a little freaked out when it comes to being a passenger on drives like this. People are crazy on freeways. They are even more crazy when it comes to construction or merging. I tend to freak out T-Man at times when I grab onto the handles in the car, but you have to understand.

I do understand, but still don't help me much.

We begin our journey on I-5

I wonder how that happened? I could've sworn we began at the resort, onto Orangewood, Harbor, Katella and then I-5. I told you to get some more coffee for the road. Or was I-5 when the coffee kicked in and now you were fully awake? Or were you jealous hearing the other woman talk to me?

"In 100 feet, turn right onto Harbor Blvd?"

then and by now it’s getting really close to 8am. Not good. But the way I figure it, everyone is trying to get somewhere by 8am, so maybe the traffic won’t be as bad as if we left at 7? Right?

I think we both hoped it would be that way.

The park doesn’t open until 10am, so we have time to get there. The trusty GPS lady tells us that its about a 45 minute ride to the park.

Trusty?! She almost got tossed out the window remember.

No fast pass for this ride.. So we must wait in line…and when I say we must wait in line, I’m not joking.

Well it started out fast.

Traffic was OK in the beginning,

See I do get some thing rights every now and then.

Construction on the Interstate has cut off the car pool lane, along with at least 2 other lanes. Which means we are all at a standstill for a while because no one knows what to do. It’s like a ride at Disney has broken down and everyone is trying to see ahead of them to see what the problem is. Slowly we merge into the middle lane and are passing construction equipment and cones, but no one is doing anything.

By this I think she means there are no construction workers to be seen anywhere. The whole time we were stuck in traffic, through the construction zone, I don't think we saw anyone working. Must be the economy. No money to finish the road.

Finally we start to see the tall buildings of downtown LA and this is when you start to get excited. Of course like a idiot, I have my camera in my hand, but am too in awe to actually pick it up and start snapping pics. I’m calling out random things to Mike, “Oh look, there’s Capital Records!” “Oh awesome, look at that!” “Oh wow, there’s the Hollywood sign!” and he’s like, Hello…where’s the camera? By that time we are passed the landmark and there’s no point.

. I’ll snap the pics on our way back, it will be better, cooler, because they will all be lit up and stuff.

If I would've tried to look at these places, I might have landed up in someone's rear bumper. Or they would've landed up in mine. I've still yet to see that Hollywood sign.

Lady H, did you know we even passed Dodger's Stadium? At least according to Google Maps.

Finally we get to Universal, and of course you have to try to follow the yellow brick road, so to speak to find the parking area. This way for VIP’s. We find the parking structure we need, pay to park,

Actually I paid for VIP parking prior to going. I just needed to show the parking attendant that I have access to the special entrance. It's Hollywood. I want to act like a star for at least a day.

and roll into the garage.

Well ok, so we didn't get to use the special access road, but at least we got pretty close parking.

For those that have never been to Universal, the parking structures, it’s an enclosed parking garage, and each “section” is named for a character from Universal Movies, (i.e., Frankenstien, The Mummy, Hulk, Jaws, King Kong, etc.). The first time we went to Universal in Orlando, we parked in the King Kong section. There is a running joke in our family now, because the first time we were there with my DSIL, she had just seen the movie for the first time and the moment I mentioned King Kong as we past under the sign, we hear her voice from the backseat go, “Oh…he dies!” I want to say Mike may have even hit the brake so he can turn to look at her and go, “Huh?”

Anyway, so it’s a random joke now that every time we see King Kong or anything mentioning King Kong, when we are around DSIL, we say, “He Dies!” She doesn’t think it’s that funny. We still get a kick out of it.

It was just so funny, because it was just so random. I even had to ask her, "Who dies?" She said "Him, King Kong." That's when she went on to tell us she had never seen King Kong. Poor D'Sis. She's never going to live it down.

Nebo & Smidgy, you know what would be really funny? If you mention it at random when we meet up. She'll be with us.

Finally get out, grab out backpacks out of the trunk and make sure we have our tickets ready, and head to the escalator.

We walk around to the entrance

Considering the traffic and time it took to get here, we still made it to this point at 9:30. Which would work to our benefit.

and look…They’ve rolled out the red carpet just for us!

I thought we had each taken a picture on the red carpet? I'll have to go back and look at our pics again.

Off to the left hand side is a person in a booth, shouting out to everyone who walks by to pick up their programs, i.e., park maps. We pick one up and walk the red carpet to the entrance and head on in.

Park doesn't officially open until 10. When we got to the end of the red carpet, we could see them letting people in. I guess since we paid for VIP parking, we would get the VIP treatment and get to be let in early. WOW, we really must be stars? Or not. They're letting everyone in early.

Our goal now is to find a locker so we can put our bags away.

Before this, I thought I would see how much it would be to upgrade our tickets to the front of the line pass. When I inquired about it, it was something like $75 a person. No thanks we'll pass on the pass.

The lockers are off to the right and easy enough to find. We pay the kiosk and it asks us to give it a 4 digit code that we can remember in order to get back into our locker throughout the day. We enter our super duper secret code, it asks us to do it again. We enter it again. It accepts it. Yay! Now we go in search of the locker the kiosk has issued us, stuff it with all our stuff, and close it. Just to be safe and sure, we enter our super duper secret code and yup, it opens. Phew!

Now lets hope we don't forget it by the end of the day.

I take Mr. T’s hand,

After stopping for a hat. Some how I always forget to bring a hat.

and off we go in search of the one ride we HAVE to go on. If we do nothing else today, ride no other rides, we must make sure to take the Universal StudioTour.

Like DL, we've each been here to Universal. Again, it's been a long LONG time since either one of us has been here. When we started comparing notes, some how I missed this on my trip. Only thing I can think of was when it said, Studio Tour, I thought it was something additional you had to pay for. So I bypassed it. By the time I found out that you didn't, it was already shutting down for the day. So if we see nothing else, this is something I definitely had to see today.

Also, since they were letting people into the park early, this was the only attraction open at the time. Better for us. It was already starting to get hot.

This was definitely the long and winding road leading to the trams for the studio tour. We walked past an area where they were taking pictures with the Hollywood sign backdrop, then we went down an escalator. Finally we come to the tram, but now have to wind our way through the chained off lines, weaving in and out, and up and down, to get to the front of the line. If you want the English version of the ride, you have to get into one line, if you want the Mandarin version, you go to that line, I think they even had a section for french speaking tourists.

I have to give it to them, If nothing else the line is entertaining. They have posters up every so often of all the different actors and movies that have come out of their studios since its inception. Trivia posters give you insight into the particular movie it’s representing or the actor in a particular movie. And TV’s are mounted along the top and bottom of each row giving you some information on movies, and actors, and of course the occasional rules and regulations of the ride.

People avoiding the bees, the TM gardening. It was really a fun queue though.

At the end of the line, they give us a pair of 3D glasses, and then point us in the direction of yet another line to wait for our tram. The tram is technically 2 trams hitched together. Each tram has about 7 rows, and each row has 6 seats. Not a seat was empty when we got on.

Are you sure it was 2? For some reason I want to say there were 4. Ah yes. Looking back at the pics, I can tell it was 4.

Sorry folks. You'll have to wait and see for yourself.

We were able to cram in to the last two seats available on the right hand side of the tram and as the safety door came down, Mike and I got our trusty camera’s out and were ready for the tour!

Better than being in the middle if the row.

I’ll leave it there for now.

Oh man. It was just getting good. I want to know what happens next.

I have a TON of pictures from the tour to show you, along with a very jam packed day of riding escalators, getting into trouble with the Mummy, avoiding spitting dinosaurs, and trying to save the city from Decepticons for the next upcoming chapters. So I will go write, delete, and re-write the chapters to make sure I do it all justice.

Good start to our Universal day honey.