Thumping Our Way Through Disneyland.

[nebo]

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.

Really? You think so? I don't know, I'm just not a real fan of ANY coasters in Florida, I guess, I still like wooden ones best, and I'l take the Raptor , Millenium Force, Magnum and Dragster, all at Cedar point, over Kraaken, Dragon Challenge, Hulk, Montu, Kumba , any of the steel ones in florida. To me, BTMR is still the most fun coaster there. But you need to get to Cedar Point to try "Intense". The Milenium Force is 310 feet High, and the Dragster is 430 feet high, and those are NOT typos.

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

That's good, funny how much more work it takes for these things than you think, eh?
And you have TWO of you doing it!

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

You know, I have never rented a car in my life, and we were just talking that if we fly out there to Dland, what about Uni? Well, the way my eyes are now, I dun't want to have to drive there, so not sure how we are going to work this part of the Cali trip out.

Rise & Shine. It's Universal Time.

Rise and Shine, time to break Mike's Spine!






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.

Yeah, and I was going to ask if you were also wearing your September underwear like you were supposed to .

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

That's ok, you can get alcohol there.
But you need the locker to keep the Vikes in, I understand.
But, um, I don't remember what that 4 digit code was that you use for the locker, so just to be safe when we are there on our next trip meeting up, you probably ought to tell me in case you forget, or something comes up.
You know, Like giving your next door neighbor your house key.




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?"

We tried that one time, that's all, just once. And Mr. Garmin almost found himself defenestrated by Smidgy, and it wasn't a woman voice, but "Jack", when he went against the outlined, time proven Smidgy way one too many times.
And who wants to take on "defenestrate?"
Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen her so angry, and at a disembodied voice! Yes, we alomst missed our exit, but still....
and my laughing didn 't help.


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

Oh, shoot, I didn't see this part. You beat me to it.



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.

I don't understand; you really expected to see workers in a construction zone?
This is how CHIPS keeps the death road talley down, by staging fake construction zones and lowering speed limits. You'd have a better chance of seeing Erick Estrada than a real worker.


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.

Don't you hate that; there's finally something worth looking at and you can't take your eyes off the bumper in front of you.


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.

Really? That was VIP? So where is the regular parking, Alcatraz?

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

It's not the parking but the walking part I worry about.

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.

Wait, You're saying King Kong dies in the movie? Well thank you very much, I've never seen it!
Next you're going to tell me that the boat sinks in Titanic!

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

Consider it done.




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.

Oh the young and naive.

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.

Gulp. I just swallowed my keyboard.

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.

They do'nt have this in Orlando. Is this something that's really special?

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.

Yeah, ten really seems to me to be a late opening time. I mean C'mon! That would mean, hmm, that the park does not open until 1 in the afternoon, Florida Universal time.
No, I don't know, don't ask.


Better than being in the middle if the row.

Agreed there.

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

Don't you hate that? Never catch me stopping at a point leaving people hanging in a report.
And no, let's NOT count how many dangling participles were left in that sentance, hey, you think that's easy to do?



Good start to our Universal day honey.

No, Heather that was a terrific chapter, really. I really enjoyed your writing style in it too, nice subtle sense of humor moments that work without hitting you over the head. great job!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Lady H, loved your update, especially the traffic descriptions, LOL. We never made it to Universal when we went to CA, but we went for our sons AF promotion, so we only had one day and spent that at DL. Maybe some other year.

 

[dwheatl]

Great update! Funny about Jeff Dunham. DH would agree. He's from SoCal and says he would never move back there because of the traffic. Too bad I want to retire in San Diego some day. We've still got a few years to argue it out.
My nephew used to be a narrator on the studio tour about 7 or 8 years ago. That's the last time we were there. Now I'm waiting until they build Harry Potter land, or whatever they're going to call it.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

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

Too many spreadsheets for me to keep them straight.

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

I'm willing to drive. In the morning I'm fine, it's the evening after a long day at the parks, and after a few drinks that I tend to get sleepy.

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

Told you I had an evil twin!

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.

This trip we did, because Universal was on Monday. We had Disney Tuesday, and SeaWorld Wednesday clothes too. When we go to Orlando i'm sure there will be another spreadsheet with the days of the week and what clothes will be worn per park.

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

At the rate I'm going, I could very well be disappointing everyone on this TR, so I'll take my chances.

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.



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

I don't even remember being frisked at this park. Do you? And as for the luke warm beer from the car, been there, done that, and recently too.

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.

So like I said...The majority of the day!

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?"

It wasn't so much having another woman talk to you, but the way she did it. Her sultry voice luring you to each direction she ordered you to go. Gets you all hyped up and then leaves the minute you get there. I've heard she's a player and will talk the same way to any man that can turn her on.

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

Sorry...I thought she was coming on to you. I'll leave her alone next time.

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.

Yes, by that I meant no workers or any work being done. And of course Mrs. GPS lady couldn't even tell us that there was construction. She had to lure us right into that trap. We gave her a piece of our mind on the last day though.

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.

Sorry honey! I promise to do better next time!

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

Nope. Totally missed it. And of course that would have been the one thing I would have taken a picture of if i would have seen it.

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.

That's right, I forgot we had paid for parking in advance. And we are stars, what are you saying? At least I pretend to be one every time i sing in the shower.

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

Oh, she would kill us! But that would be sooooooo funny!

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

Personally I think they are conveniently forgotten..."Oh shoot. I forgot a hat. And my poor head will get all sunburned if i don't get another one to add to my collection!!!"

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.

I think I talked about this tour non stop while we were planning this trip. It was one of the main things i remembered from when i went back in the day and I was destined to go back again. i would have rode only that ride all day and been very content.

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.

I stand corrected, I think your right. I couldn't remember off hand how many cars there were and I couldn't find the picture to prove myself right or wrong.

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

Well, we went on rides, we got some beer, we ate, we went back home.

Good start to our Universal day honey.

Thanks honey! Let's see how well I can do the rest. I'm working on it...

 

[mmeb144]

Well, we went on rides, we got some beer, we ate, we went back home.

Hey! I figured you did those things.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

You know, I have never rented a car in my life, and we were just talking that if we fly out there to Dland, what about Uni? Well, the way my eyes are now, I dun't want to have to drive there, so not sure how we are going to work this part of the Cali trip out.

The problem with rental cars is the hold they put on your CC. Usually we can find a pretty decent deal for a car, especially for the amount of time we will be going. But when you pay $150 - $200 for the week or so, and then they hold another $200 until they get the car back, just to make sure you have the money in your account, drives me bonkers. I could very well be using that hold money for food or booze.


T-Man said if you give him some dates, he would be happy to be your chauffer .

“I’m a good driver.” Said in his best Rain man voice.

Yeah, and I was going to ask if you were also wearing your September underwear like you were supposed to .

Nope. August.

That's ok, you can get alcohol there.
But you need the locker to keep the Vikes in, I understand.
But, um, I don't remember what that 4 digit code was that you use for the locker, so just to be safe when we are there on our next trip meeting up, you probably ought to tell me in case you forget, or something comes up.
You know, Like giving your next door neighbor your house key.

Sure you got it. I forget so easily and I’d hate to forget and have no one around who remembers.....

Um....Who are you?

We tried that one time, that's all, just once. And Mr. Garmin almost found himself defenestrated by Smidgy, and it wasn't a woman voice, but "Jack", when he went against the outlined, time proven Smidgy way one too many times.
And who wants to take on "defenestrate?"
Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen her so angry, and at a disembodied voice! Yes, we alomst missed our exit, but still....
and my laughing didn 't help.
Oh, shoot, I didn't see this part. You beat me to it.

T-Man tends to program the gps with the address, and then proceed to study the map for a different course. Instead of just listening to the gps lady, like I would, he hears where she wants him to go, and then checks the map to make sure. I think he has trust issues with her.

And yes, I had to look up the word defenestrate...

I don't understand; you really expected to see workers in a construction zone?
This is how CHIPS keeps the death road talley down, by staging fake construction zones and lowering speed limits. You'd have a better chance of seeing Erick Estrada than a real worker.

I know. It was silly of me to think that in a construction zone, there would be actual construction. I see it here at home all the time, lanes blocked off, detours, and yet nothing happening, so I don’t know why I was surprised this time around.

Don't you hate that; there's finally something worth looking at and you can't take your eyes off the bumper in front of you.

And I didn’t help matters, by ooohing and ahhhing the whole time.

It's not the parking but the walking part I worry about.

To be honest, the walking wasn’t bad. Most of the way was just floating on an escalator, and the actual walk from the top of the parking garage to the park entrance wasn’t far at all.

Wait, You're saying King Kong dies in the movie? Well thank you very much, I've never seen it!
Next you're going to tell me that the boat sinks in Titanic!

Well...

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

Consider it done.

Oh...She will kill us...But what a way to go...That will be absolutely hilarious! Please warn me, My luck, I will end up taking a drink just as you do it and will have it come out of my nose...Wouldn’t that be a story for the TR!

Gulp. I just swallowed my keyboard.

Yeah, it was crazy when we looked at that price, I swore it was a typo...

They do'nt have this in Orlando. Is this something that's really special?

If your into the backlot stuff it is. I love all the behind the scenes stuff. You’ll see it in my upcoming chapter, but I recommend it to anyone who goes. It’s just awesome to see where some TV shows or movies have been filmed.

Yeah, ten really seems to me to be a late opening time. I mean C'mon! That would mean, hmm, that the park does not open until 1 in the afternoon, Florida Universal time.
No, I don't know, don't ask.

This is me, not asking.

Don't you hate that? Never catch me stopping at a point leaving people hanging in a report.
And no, let's NOT count how many dangling participles were left in that sentance, hey, you think that's easy to do?

I learned from the best!

No, Heather that was a terrific chapter, really. I really enjoyed your writing style in it too, nice subtle sense of humor moments that work without hitting you over the head. great job!

Awww. What a compliment. I’m speechless...Thank you.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Lady H, loved your update, especially the traffic descriptions, LOL. We never made it to Universal when we went to CA, but we went for our sons AF promotion, so we only had one day and spent that at DL. Maybe some other year.

Thanks! I tried to make my descriptions clear enough for our readers to see it too. As for Uni, I highly recommend it. We tend to go because of the rides. T-Man is a thrill ride seeker and some of the Disney rides just aren't exhilarating enough for him.

Great update! Funny about Jeff Dunham. DH would agree. He's from SoCal and says he would never move back there because of the traffic. Too bad I want to retire in San Diego some day. We've still got a few years to argue it out.
My nephew used to be a narrator on the studio tour about 7 or 8 years ago. That's the last time we were there. Now I'm waiting until they build Harry Potter land, or whatever they're going to call it.

T-Man and I are big Jeff Dunham fans, we've seen him at least twice live, and we couldn't stop laughing.

I'm from NM, I mean, we have traffic issues. I-25 and I-40 can be crazy during rush hour traffic, but Cali is just nuts!

Hey! I figured you did those things.

Eeek! Ok Ok, I'm writing I'm writing!

 

[bankr63]

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.

Really? You think so? I don't know, I'm just not a real fan of ANY coasters in Florida, I guess, I still like wooden ones best, and I'l take the Raptor , Millenium Force, Magnum and Dragster, all at Cedar point, over Kraaken, Dragon Challenge, Hulk, Montu, Kumba , any of the steel ones in florida. To me, BTMR is still the most fun coaster there. But you need to get to Cedar Point to try "Intense". The Milenium Force is 310 feet High, and the Dragster is 430 feet high, and those are NOT typos.

Sounds pretty tall, what's that in kilometers?

Well now coaster comparo's could make for a very long thread - I just try to ride them all; and I pretty much love them all. I still have very fond memories of riding the Beast at Kings Island in 79 or 80; my last big wooden coaster - not so fond of the 2 hour wait to get on it tho.

Dragon Challenge isn't very high at all, but altitude doesn't bother me much. It is the severity and frequency of attitude changes (rolls, loops, curves) that gets to me. About half-way through DC, I thought to myself (for my first time EVER on a coaster!), "I could lose my cookies" immediately followed by the thought "but the g-forces won't let anything come up" I really did need a couple of hours of lesser rides before I faced Rip-Ride-Rocket later that afternoon.

 

[bankr63]

It wasn't so much having another woman talk to you, but the way she did it. Her sultry voice luring you to each direction she ordered you to go. Gets you all hyped up and then leaves the minute you get there. I've heard she's a player and will talk the same way to any man that can turn her on.

I like to change the voices on mine, that way I can have a whole harem of these ladies. Something about the Australian accent that I really like, especially when she calls a ramp a "slip" road.

And of course Mrs. GPS lady couldn't even tell us that there was construction. She had to lure us right into that trap. We gave her a piece of our mind on the last day though.

What you need to do is upgrade to a higher end model with traffic reporting. We just traded up our "Bossy" for a new smarter "Bossy II" (or is that "Bossier"?) Now she lures me past the point of no return on the slip road, only to announce "traffic ahead!"

Stop right there! I gotta know right now...

 

[Thumper_Man]

Sounds pretty tall, what's that in kilometers?

Well now coaster comparo's could make for a very long thread - I just try to ride them all; and I pretty much love them all. I still have very fond memories of riding the Beast at Kings Island in 79 or 80; my last big wooden coaster - not so fond of the 2 hour wait to get on it tho.

Dragon Challenge isn't very high at all, but altitude doesn't bother me much. It is the severity and frequency of attitude changes (rolls, loops, curves) that gets to me. About half-way through DC, I thought to myself (for my first time EVER on a coaster!), "I could lose my cookies" immediately followed by the thought "but the g-forces won't let anything come up" I really did need a couple of hours of lesser rides before I faced Rip-Ride-Rocket later that afternoon.

Dragster is actually 420 feet high which translate to 130m.

We didn't get to do RRR on our last trip. They had closed it down to replace the cars. Hoping to ride it this next trip.

I love Dragon Challenge but really love Hulk. I used to be able to ride them back to back to back to back. Now I can only do back to back before I can do them again. It's the pits getting old.

Another coaster I love is Manta over at Sea World. Going backwards on your back is something that will make you a little queasy.

 

[nebo]

Sounds pretty tall, what's that in kilometers?

Well now coaster comparo's could make for a very long thread - I just try to ride them all; and I pretty much love them all. I still have very fond memories of riding the Beast at Kings Island in 79 or 80; my last big wooden coaster - not so fond of the 2 hour wait to get on it tho.

Dragon Challenge isn't very high at all, but altitude doesn't bother me much. It is the severity and frequency of attitude changes (rolls, loops, curves) that gets to me. About half-way through DC, I thought to myself (for my first time EVER on a coaster!), "I could lose my cookies" immediately followed by the thought "but the g-forces won't let anything come up" I really did need a couple of hours of lesser rides before I faced Rip-Ride-Rocket later that afternoon.

Haven't tried Rip Rocket yet, going to next month. Any good?
And the Beast is still my favorite. Only tried it once in '92, but it blew me away. I alsot like The Mean Streak at Cedar Point too.

Dragster is actually 420 feet high which translate to 130m.

Not 430? Well forget it then, why bother?

We didn't get to do RRR on our last trip. They had closed it down to replace the cars. Hoping to ride it this next trip.

I love Dragon Challenge but really love Hulk. I used to be able to ride them back to back to back to back. Now I can only do back to back before I can do them again. It's the pits getting old.

Another coaster I love is Manta over at Sea World. Going backwards on your back is something that will make you a little queasy.

Heard good things about Manta, but havent been over to Sea Woild since '06.

Maybe at Animal Kingdom we cad ride EE together, Smidgy doesn't do that one.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Heard good things about Manta, but havent been over to Sea Woild since '06.

I love Manta. My favorite coaster at Orlando between Disney, US/IoA and Sea World. It may not have the speed of Hulk or RnRC, but the ride is smooth. And the way you actually ride Manta is what makes it a little better.

Maybe at Animal Kingdom we cad ride EE together, Smidgy doesn't do that one.

I'll ride EE with you. We would probably have to meet up before 4 if we're going to ride it. Or grab some FP's.

Lady H is almost like Smidgy. She'll ride it once and then be done with it. Although lately she has gotten a little braver on some roller coasters and will ride more than once.

 

[bankr63]

Haven't tried Rip Rocket yet, going to next month. Any good?


Heard good things about Manta, but havent been over to Sea Woild since '06.

Maybe at Animal Kingdom we cad ride EE together, Smidgy doesn't do that one.

Well if RRR's open, that's good! I had heard a rumour that it was closing permanently because the continuous loading wasn't continuous - which is true, and it never lived up to its billing. It is a pretty good coaster; but not great - the first 2 minutes are the best. The lift is incredible as you go straight up (vertical), very slowly. You really need to listen when they say you MUST stow all your gear in a locker. I had zip pockets, and was still convinced my cell phone was going to slip out. Heck, I was pretty convinced that I was going to slip out too!

The first loop is really cool because it flips you to the top of the track just as you near the top, you are never really upside down, but it is a fun sensation as the g's swap from neg to pos to neg to pos, along with the centripetal forces of the big loop and the barrel roll. It's a bit of a rush blasting through the wall and out over the main walkway too. The one downside of the ride is that there are approx. six interlock zones; they slow you down too often to wait for the previous train to clear. The first two zones are good, but it gets slow and boring after that. Hopefully THAT is what they have been tinkering with during the shutdown.

In all our trips to Orlando, we haven't hit Seaworld yet either. I've seen the Youtube POV clips of Manta, and it looks pretty cool. When we bore of Disney and Uni (yeah, right!) maybe we'll try it. Got to fit in a trip to Busch one of these years too. We visit family near Tampa already most trips.

Wish I could be there to ride EE with you guys too! That probably won't ever happen 'cause we only go on March break. Maybe when I retire in another 30 years...

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Well if RRR's open, that's good! I had heard a rumour that it was closing permanently because the continuous loading wasn't continuous - which is true, and it never lived up to its billing. It is a pretty good coaster; but not great - the first 2 minutes are the best. The lift is incredible as you go straight up (vertical), very slowly. You really need to listen when they say you MUST stow all your gear in a locker. I had zip pockets, and was still convinced my cell phone was going to slip out. Heck, I was pretty convinced that I was going to slip out too!

The first loop is really cool because it flips you to the top of the track just as you near the top, you are never really upside down, but it is a fun sensation as the g's swap from neg to pos to neg to pos, along with the centripetal forces of the big loop and the barrel roll. It's a bit of a rush blasting through the wall and out over the main walkway too. The one downside of the ride is that there are approx. six interlock zones; they slow you down too often to wait for the previous train to clear. The first two zones are good, but it gets slow and boring after that. Hopefully THAT is what they have been tinkering with during the shutdown.

In all our trips to Orlando, we haven't hit Seaworld yet either. I've seen the Youtube POV clips of Manta, and it looks pretty cool. When we bore of Disney and Uni (yeah, right!) maybe we'll try it. Got to fit in a trip to Busch one of these years too. We visit family near Tampa already most trips.

Wish I could be there to ride EE with you guys too! That probably won't ever happen 'cause we only go on March break. Maybe when I retire in another 30 years...

The last time we were in WDW, RRR was closed for refurb, and it had just opened. So who knows what will happen with that ride. I'm interested to see if they will close it permenently after all the time and money that has gone into getting it in the first place.

Of course either way I wouldn't be too heart broken. As T-Man has said, I've been getting better when it comes to coasters and have even gotten on a few more than once recently, but that one scares the bejeezus out of me.

Mike will be thrilled that he has someone to go on EE with him. I tend to sit next to him and scream the entire way so it would be nice to have someone less vocal. Just a warning though, he does laugh, often.

As for SeaWorld, if you get the chance, and you like coasters, then definitely do it. Mike rates Manta in his top 5. And from personal experience, it's pretty intense. His coaster buddy (his sister) is usually pretty good with all coasters and is trying to do Hulk 15 times in one day, and can probably accomplish it if given the chance, yet Manta did her in. It was good to finally see her with the green face for once.

OK. New chapter coming up shortly!

 

[nebo]

The last time we were in WDW, RRR was closed for refurb, and it had just opened. So who knows what will happen with that ride. I'm interested to see if they will close it permenently after all the time and money that has gone into getting it in the first place.

From what I'm hearing, yes, the ride is not a hit. It has long lines but only because of loading and shut down problems. Lately, too many new coasters are One Trick Pony types that just don't work. Our local Great America, Six Flags park has replaced more than a few of those "one trick pony ' coasters. Just recently, I think it was,,,, oh crap,,uh,, either Deja Vu, or Terminal Velocity that they got rid of after only a couple of years on the job. Then there was the kind of bobsled coaster, Rolling Thunder they demolished after too many injuries,,,yeah,, lots of them,, They had a very early Looping coaster,, that was just that,, one HUGE gigantic LOOP,, called the Tidal Wave,,,, all gone.
I only wish you younger folks could have experienced some of the old wooden coasters of the Bronze Age.
The Bobs at Riverview in Chicago, the Cyclone of Coney Island,,, you really, really, had to pay attention on those rides.

if not, you very well could die.

The urban legend of the guy on the Bobs waving to his wife at the top of the first lift, and then falling out and getting sliced into thirds when he landed on a lower track and the train ran over him there is NOT an urban legend.
The ironic part was, when he stood up to wave to his wife,,, and yes,,, you really could do that back then, no shoulder harnesses, just a movable lap bar,,, he stood up to wave, and got knocked out of the car by the sign going over the track at the top, the sign that said to stay in your seat at all times!

But that ride was probably only about 120 feet high, maybe hit a top speed of 55 mph.
But the turns were so tight, drops so sudden, you got off feeling like ykou just defied death, laughing. The Cyclone at Coney was like that too. No, the word Smooth" was never used as an adjective.

Yeah, the Dragster is a one trick pony too, but the trick is so big you have to try it if your a coaster junkie.

Mike you are right, only 420 feet high, and you do go from 0 to 120 mph in 3.8 seconds. !
I rode it with Jeremy,,, and that little sh,,, he conned me into the FRONT ROW!
Only did it once,,, that was plenty, didn't need to do it again.
And I was only five foot 6 when I got off the ride!http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZtg9teFusk&feature=related

Sorry, forgot how to do these things, and I didn't mean to take over your thread, I apologize again.



Of course either way I wouldn't be too heart broken. As T-Man has said, I've been getting better when it comes to coasters and have even gotten on a few more than once recently, but that one scares the bejeezus out of me.

Rip Ride Rocket scares you huh? I've read that folks wish they could do it without having to listen to ANY music.

Mike will be thrilled that he has someone to go on EE with him. I tend to sit next to him and scream the entire way so it would be nice to have someone less vocal. Just a warning though, he does laugh, often.

Ah, hes' a laugher. Yeah, I can picture that from talking that day to him.
I'm usually in prayer on rides I'm concerned about.

As for SeaWorld, if you get the chance, and you like coasters, then definitely do it. Mike rates Manta in his top 5. And from personal experience, it's pretty intense. His coaster buddy (his sister) is usually pretty good with all coasters and is trying to do Hulk 15 times in one day, and can probably accomplish it if given the chance, yet Manta did her in. It was good to finally see her with the green face for once.

I usually only need to do something once per trip, then I fell like I didn't chicken out, and I got my money's worth.
But I can still be terrified, and as I get older, I start to worry more and more about my heart.
I usually make the person they stick me with fill out an EMT aplication if I do the single rider line and end up with someone I don't know. I want to make sure they at least know basic CPR.
Or at least C3PO.

OK. New chapter coming up shortly!

Yeay,,, Nebo finally shuts up!

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

I will have to get through the studios tour in probably two chapters, since there are quite a few pictures to show and there is a limit to the amount of pictures I can place in each post. So let us begin shall we?

Off we go on the Universal Studios tour. The tram, which was actually 4 cars, not 2 as I previously described, begins its slow and steady pace down Kirk Douglas Dr. Our guide for the day introduces herself and the tram driver, unfortunately I can’t for the life of me remember their names, so for the purposes of this report, they will be dubbed, Tour Guide Sally and Tram Driver Ted.

Tour Guide Sally, mentions that we have a celebrity guide with us, who will be helping her throughout the tour, and will pop up on the monitors every so often to give us some information on whatever we are passing through at the time. This celebrity is none other than Jimmy Fallon.

Now, the last time I rode this, the celebrity helper was Whoopi Goldberg. Jimmy Fallon came around not too long ago, when they re-did certain parts of the tour after the big fire. That’s when they remade King Kong into the 3D version (which I will get into later).

Jimmy Fallon comes on the monitor and tells us that we are in good hands with our tour guide and driver, It’s funny how, since they have so many different people conducting the tours, the actual names of the tour guides and drivers are dubbed over while Jimmy (because we are on a first name basis and all) pretends to be saying their names. He does however mention that the tour guide does owe him $5. If this is the same on ever tram ride, this man will be rich without the comedy scene and late night show he has.

We then go into the safety rules. Tour Guide Sally lets us know that if there is a medical problem, a problem with the video feed or audio, or if you drop something you need (like a small child) off the side of the tram, then to pull on the cord in the middle and she will stop the tram and come to assist. There is no smoking on the tram. Keep your arms and legs inside the moving vehicle at all times…and away we go!

The first thing we pass is the Fire Station. Not too exciting, there were no hot firefighters out and about (shoot!), but good to know that there is one on Universal Property. All those special effects for movies and stuff can get out of hand if you aren’t careful.



This year commemorates 100 years for Universal, so on the tour, there were posters along the sides with different movies and the year they were filmed there.




We passed by a lot of the sound stage areas, Stage 12, was one of the biggest sound stages and was recently used to film, “The Voice”, but it was also used for films like, Dracula, Frankenstein, Scarface, Back to the Future, and Jurassic Park to name a few.



Unfortunately we did not get a chance to go into any of them, but there were a couple that were wide open, so naturally we did what any normal, curious person would do – We jumped ship and snuck in…OK not really, but we did take a picture as best as we could from our view.



We passed some more stage areas. I took this one mainly because I’m a huge fan of musicals and a huge fan of “Wicked”.



They even have a café all to themselves back there.



The next few shots are of the bungalows that used to house some of the stars as well as offices while they were filming here. They are now strictly offices for producers, writers, etc.





Mr. Potato Head took some time out of his busy schedule to come out to greet us.



What was really cool was that one of these bungalows used to be the office for none other than Alfred Hitchcock. Can you imagine the decor in that office?

Anyway... we passed the Johnny Carson theater.



From here we were transported to the streets of New York. I’m not quite sure how they did it. Was there a time warp I wasn’t aware of? Did we go into the future? Was this what my future would be like if I kept up with my sinful ways?



And where in the world is everyone? I feel like we were transported to a scene in The Day After Tomorrow or something…Spooky…

The building in the background of this next picture was used as an apartment building for the movie Bruce Almighty.



We slowly start to approach this rocky cave, and I’m thinking...we’re not going in there are we? Of course I don’t say that out loud, I can’t look weak. After all I was the one that told T-Man that we HAD to go on this ride, and it was a total must do. What would he think of me if I started whimpering and cowering in fear now? But look at this place, Does this look like a place anyone would want to enter?



That was the entrance to Skull Island. Now I don’t know how many people remember the old version of King Kong, but I remember the bridge that you had to go over, the sounds of the fight that King Kong was having and the distinct smell of bananas as King Kong got up close to the tram. I’m actually not kidding on that last part. I conferred with my mom and brother and they both remember bananas.

In the new version, there is no banana smell, but you are transported right into Skull Island and into the fight scene with King Kong and Tyrannosaurus Rex. We are chased by Dinosaurs and this will not be the only time dinosaurs will come to be our enemies this trip. All of a sudden a huge ape is leaping over our tram and tackling this huge T-Rex. T-Rex looks hungry and angry at us. He doesn’t seem to be in a chipper mood at all. I’m thinking he may just need one of the big guys banana’s to regulate him but I say nothing, he doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to talk. He tries to knock us out of the path we are on, King Kong comes to our rescue. In the end, King Kong won and we were able to get out safely.

Unfortunately, one of the other trams didn’t get out so unscathed…



After surviving, We roamed around the streets of New York a little while longer and then came to the car lot. I was hoping to come away with a brand new car…but no luck…But wouldn’t it be nice to own one of these?











From the car lot, we were escorted into special effects sound stage 55, where they showed us how they did the special effects for The Fast and The Furious Tokyo Drift. Since the reality of blowing up actual cars numerous times can be expensive and messy, they showed us how they take the shell of a car, and set it on special hydraulics to give the illusion that the car is being lifted or rolled. This way, if a scene has to be shot multiple times, all they have to do is reset the hydraulics, instead of purchasing a new car.



Once the demonstration was over, the cars took a bow and gave us a little show, on how they strut their stuff when they aren’t being blown up. It was actually really cool to watch. It’s amazing what computers can do now a days.

Once more we were transported to another world, this time, it wasn’t the streets of New York, or even LA, it wasn’t a nice sunny beach somewhere in the tropics, no…it was…

Jurassic Park!




And of course the day we come to take the tour is the day the dinosaurs escape…

Well needless to say, as we proceeded through the area cautiously. Making sure we didn’t pick up any hitchhiking dinosaurs or none of them tried to kidnap us, I feel something wet on my hand…did that plant just spit at me? Hmmm…

I shrug it off, and go back to looking at the landscape. Now I’m getting this same wet feeling on my neck…what the heck?

Darn dinosaurs are spitting at us! They are hiding in the shrubs and trees!



I sure hope they stay there and don’t try to eat us! I beg and plead, telling the dinos that we are way too salty for them, and will cause them tons of cholesterol issues later down the road. It's possible that a whole tram of vegans may be coming around the corner and they should wait for them. At least get their daily intake of veggies and such that way.

I guess they figured they needed a more balanced diet so they let us go and we sped out of there in a hurry!

 

[nebo]

you ahve a great way of describing things! we weren't planning on going over to universal whenever we go to DLR, but Ive been thinking otherwise.. I wonder how much a cab would be from DLR to universal> 9no way do the 2 of us want to navigate a car aroud LA)

 

[smidgy]

oops, that was me above,posting under nebo's name

 

[pkondz]

Oh.... carp. Now I'm two chapters behind.... better get a bucket.

I mean, better get to work.

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

Now, now. No need to be devisive.

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!

So you have a crack fetish. Gotcha.

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!

Makes you wish you lived there doesn't it?
"Sorry I wasn't in all of last week boss. I was stuck in traffic."
"Oh, that's all right then."

Gotta look at the glass half full side of things some times.

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

If you mix up your clothes and accidentally put on Tuesday Disney clothes they won't let you in.

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.

Good for you, 'cause only an idiot would charge his one and only battery and leave it in the hotel.

:

Have you ever watched Jeff Dunham’s stand up comedy or Ventriloquism act?

No, but I've heard good things. I think he's coming to our city next month, maybe I'll have to look into that.

This was our ride to downtown LA.

Great smiley. I watched it for quite a while.

People are crazy on freeways.

Ever see L.A. Story with Steve Martin? All these people are driving along the freeway when the radio DJ announces that it's the first day of spring. Suddenly, everyone is pulling out guns and everybody's shooting at everybody else.

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…).

OK. At least you have an excuse. My DW will be looking down or out the side window. I'll see a car stopped far up ahead. I'll ease off the gas... coast for a bit, slowing down all the while... slowly apply pressure to the break... and then as we gently pull up behind the stopped car, she'll look up and suddenly see a car that's CLOSE!!! and freak out.

Gotta admit it's gotten to me a few times. I'm all relaxed and suddenly she's gasping like a semi's about to ram into us at 100PMH. I usually tell her to just keep her eyes closed.

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?

First time I read that, I thought, "What? They want to be on the road when everyone's trying to get somewhere?" I re-read it and then I got it.

Slowly we merge into the middle lane and are passing construction equipment and cones, but no one is doing anything.

Ah, we have the same problems here too. I see some things are universal.

See how I did that?

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!

Sorry what was that? Somthing about Tom's Harry something or other? Nevermind. The problem with the merging is that everyone's different. You've got some people who won't let you in, in front of them no matter what. You've got others who let in everybody, which means that lane ain't moving.

I've heard of this zipper merging theory, but I can't see how it could work unless everybody's on the same page... and they never are.

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

Nice save. Did he buy it?

This way for VIP’s, this way for team members, (Of course, some people do go both ways).

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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...where did they all sit? Was there a pyramid of people sitting on each other’s laps?

Where's Ringling Brothers when you need 'em?

This escalator takes us to the top tier of the parking garage and the bathrooms.

So you have to go all the way to the top so that you can let stuff out of the bottom?

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.

If the night lights up... that's called 'day'.

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

Well, sure. They probably knew you were going to write this TR.

Just to be safe and sure, we enter our super duper secret code and yup, it opens. Phew!

But you were worried there for a sec. right?

if you want the Mandarin version, you go to that line,

I might chose this one. I love their oranges.

What?

They have posters up every so often of all the different actors and movies that have come out of their studios since its inception.

Actually, Inception is a Warner Brothers movie. But I'll let it go this time.

Trivia posters give you insight into the particular movie it’s representing

Yeah. No. Insight is a Braeburn Entertainment movie. You're 0 for 2 here... and you were there!

Or were you? Hmmmm...

At the end of the line, they give us a pair of 3D glasses,

You needed 3D glasses for the tour? I think I'm missing something here.

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.

Oh, boy! I can't wait.

Hang on... the next chapter's already up! Woo Hoo! Just a couple more comments and I'm off to read some more.

It wasn't so much having another woman talk to you, but the way she did it. Her sultry voice luring you to each direction she ordered you to go. Gets you all hyped up and then leaves the minute you get there. I've heard she's a player and will talk the same way to any man that can turn her on.

That was really funny!

Personally I think they are conveniently forgotten..."Oh shoot. I forgot a hat. And my poor head will get all sunburned if i don't get another one to add to my collection!!!"

She's on to ya T-Man.

And BTW...
Defenestrate: The action of demonstrating the removal of a fence.

See? I knew what it meant.

 

[pkondz]

So let us begin shall we?

Yes. Lets.

Off we go on the Universal Studios tour.

Wait. Which one is it? Off or on? You can't have both.

Tour Guide Sally, mentions that we have a celebrity guide with us, who will be helping her throughout the tour, and will pop up on the monitors every so often to give us some information on whatever we are passing through at the time. This celebrity is none other than Jimmy Fallon.

I first read that a little too quickly and thought, "Wow! Jimmy Fallon showed up!"

Missed the word 'monitors'.

He does however mention that the tour guide does owe him $5. If this is the same on ever tram ride, this man will be rich without the comedy scene and late night show he has.

Either that or there's some darn cheap tour guides out there.

or if you drop something you need (like a small child) off the side of the tram,

Nah. You don't really need a small child. I say if you drop one, pick him or her up on the way back.

Not too exciting, there were no hot firefighters out and about (shoot!), but good to know that there is one on Universal Property.

Check. Somewhere on Universal Property there's a hot firefighter.

This year commemorates 100 years for Universal, so on the tour, there were posters along the sides with different movies and the year they were filmed there.

That's a great movie. Jamie Foxx does an unbelievable job of channeling Ray Charles. I saw it was coming up again on TV and will be recording it to watch again.

What was really cool was that one of these bungalows used to be the office for none other than Alfred Hitchcock. Can you imagine the decor in that office?

That's cool!

From here we were transported to the streets of New York. I’m not quite sure how they did it. Was there a time warp I wasn’t aware of? Did we go into the future? Was this what my future would be like if I kept up with my sinful ways?

There ya go. Back to the Future was a Universal movie.

And yes... you did.

The building in the background of this next picture was used as an apartment building for the movie Bruce Almighty.

Just watched that the other day and I recognized it.

But look at this place, Does this look like a place anyone would want to enter?

Oh sure. Plenty of people.

Spelunkers...
Treasure seekers...
Miners...
Batman...

In the new version, there is no banana smell, but you are transported right into Skull Island and into the fight scene with King Kong and Tyrannosaurus Rex. We are chased by Dinosaurs and this will not be the only time dinosaurs will come to be our enemies this trip. All of a sudden a huge ape is leaping over our tram and tackling this huge T-Rex. T-Rex looks hungry and angry at us. He doesn’t seem to be in a chipper mood at all. I’m thinking he may just need one of the big guys banana’s to regulate him but I say nothing, he doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to talk. He tries to knock us out of the path we are on, King Kong comes to our rescue. In the end, King Kong won and we were able to get out safely.

How was this all done, Heather? Was it animatronics? Or implied? On the video? Sounds pretty amazing, though.

Unfortunately, one of the other trams didn’t get out so unscathed…

That'd be Nebo's tram.

After surviving, We roamed around the streets of New York a little while longer and then came to the car lot. I was hoping to come away with a brand new car…but no luck…But wouldn’t it be nice to own one of these?

Since the reality of blowing up actual cars numerous times can be expensive and messy, they showed us how they take the shell of a car, and set it on special hydraulics to give the illusion that the car is being lifted or rolled. This way, if a scene has to be shot multiple times, all they have to do is reset the hydraulics, instead of purchasing a new car.

Cool.

And of course the day we come to take the tour is the day the dinosaurs escape…

Geez, you'd think after all the trouble they had, they'd learn from their mistakes.

But nooooooo...

Making sure we didn’t pick up any hitchhiking dinosaurs or none of them tried to kidnap us, I feel something wet on my hand…did that plant just spit at me? Hmmm…

I shrug it off, and go back to looking at the landscape. Now I’m getting this same wet feeling on my neck…what the heck?

Darn dinosaurs are spitting at us! They are hiding in the shrubs and trees!

That's great!

I sure hope they stay there and don’t try to eat us! I beg and plead, telling the dinos that we are way too salty for them, and will cause them tons of cholesterol issues later down the road. It's possible that a whole tram of vegans may be coming around the corner and they should wait for them. At least get their daily intake of veggies and such that way.

That's really funny, Mrs. T.

I guess they figured they needed a more balanced diet so they let us go and we sped out of there in a hurry!

No! You can't be done already! I want more! Great chapter! Can't wait for more.