trip report: day two

[kirbsam]

friday morning was another sunny day. our morning was pretty similar to yesterdays, except today the whole family was starting at universal studios. we arrived at the gate at 840. there were no lines to speak of, and we got in about 850. since the girls and i had been there a couple of hours the day before, we wanted to go right to mummy. they stopped us about half way down the road since mummy opened right at 9. we rode jimmy neutron, and then headed right to mummy. this was our favorite ride at the studios. my wife who is not a coaster fan like me and the girls, loved it, too. we rode it about three times in a row. again, i can not say enough about fotl. what a great perk. anyone who is wondering if staying onsite is worth it, needs to have this perk just once. but i digress. jaws wasnt open until 11 and twister didnt start until 10, so we made our way over to mib, et, bttf and terminator. then we went to jaws. those on the left definately get wet. we told my wife that the left was the best side to ride on, since me and the girls rode it yesterday, we told her that she wouldnt get wet. well, what a riot that turned out to be. we went to beetle juice. some adult humor that went over the kids heads, thank god, but a very fun show. and made it to twister. we then had a little time to kill before the horror makeup show. so we had lunch at mels diner. we ate outside, and had a good lunch, with your basic burger and fries. we caught a bit of the blues brothers revue before the make up show. to be truthful, after reading about how great this show was on this website, i was somewhat disappointed. we were expecting more and it was filled with corny jokes, and not much action. the show was fun, but just not what we were expecting. around 130, we headed back to the hotel. i napped and the kids and my wife went down to the pool. when i joined them, i got in the pool with the kids and my wife got friendly with a couple of ladies from boston, and they made friends with the bartender. i guess the captain and cokes were going down very smoothly. me and the kids played bocce ball for about an hour. what a relaxing way to spend an hour. we talked and laughed and really got connected. a great experience. we then went to the club lounge for a snack and to play some pool. we started to get the itch again. so we hopped a boat and went to ioa. we rode spiderman about three times, and also hit jurassic park river adventure. we were supposed to meet some friends for dinner at 7, so about 630 i made my way to margaritaville, to see about a table for 9 of us. turns out even if you are onsite and a party of 7 or more, you need to make a reservation because he said the wait was 2 and a half hours. i explained how the person at the hotel said just show your room key, but he was adament that there was no way to get us in. ok, slight change of plans, but i went with the flow. i mean, after all i was on vacation. i went to bubba gumps and they could seat us by 715. i called my wife, and she called our friends and we met at bubba gumps. turns out we had a great time. they play forrest gump trivia. one of our friends loved the movie and he knew every answer. didnt win a prize, but when he stood up and did his forrest gump impression of elvis presley the whole section of the dining room wanted to party with us. i got the steak and shrimp, everybody else ordered some kind of shrimp, the girls got chicken tenders and hamburgers. everyones food was good. we went to the gift shop and my wife always the bargain hunter, found the clearance rack and we all made off with forrest gump clothing. we walked around city walk for awhile. it seems like this would be a great adult only place, but since we had the kids, we didnt really check out the night club scene. maybe we will do that at another time. we made it back to our hotel in time for dessert at the club lounge. and went to bed. observations for day two: jaws and twister were our two biggest surprise rides/shows. we really liked both of those a lot. more than i thought. bttf was quite rough and jarring. spiderman is totally awesome. the drinks at the pool bar are stronger than at the restaurants. all the staff was really friendly. at the parks, they said hi, at the hotel everybody said, bonjourno. the boat drivers talked to the passengers. the life guards at the pool were friendly. my kids even noticed this. ok, another comparison to disney is coming, sorry. but the staff at universal was friendlier than at disney. there were many friendly staff at disney, but EVERYONE at universal would go out of their way to make you feel welcome, or make you feel special. it was neat. another really great day at universal. again, got a ton of rides and shows in, but felt relaxed the whole time. a really nice day overall. time for bed. stay tuned for day three, where things were not quite so smooth, but did not ruin anything for us.

 

[MouseGirl]

Thanks for posting day two - I've really enjoyed reading both installments of your trip report! Glad you had such a great trip. We'll be there in two weeks, and reading your report had me wishing I was there NOW!!!

Thanks again,
MouseGirl

 

[tlinus]

ok, another comparison to disney is coming, sorry. but the staff at universal was friendlier than at disney. there were many friendly staff at disney, but EVERYONE at universal would go out of their way to make you feel welcome, or make you feel special.

Here is something I agree with 100%. In October we stayed at the HRH Club level. One night for treat it was make your own sundae. My dd#2 is extremely allergic to peanuts and unfortunately the ice cream had nuts in it - she was so disappointed......Mary in the club lounge went out of her way to go and get unopened plain vanilla ice cream and ran the ice cream scoop and a bowl through the dishwasher on super hot water to sanitize them so dd could have some icecream!!!! THAT is why we are going back again in April.....they make you feel special and being onsite is such a relaxing experience!!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Thanks for Sharing :]

 

[Disney owl]

another good report thanks