Universal w/ a teen and a tween trip report!

[chelliet]

We had our first trip to Universal on August 4-7 and we stayed at Portofino, Club Level, in the Villa Wing. I am usually an obsessive planner, but after a difficult Christmas with distressing news, and my Marine Corps brother passing away in March as well as many other difficult events, I ended up being diagnosed with depression in July and started medicine and the planning was minimal, although I trolled the boards for info. So I hope someone here may actually be interested in this report, although I don't know how to post photos or link to photos, but I will work on it.

Our family consists of me, Mom, 42, married to my amazing husband for 18 years, working part-time at Coldwater Creek and keeping track of my family the rest of the time.

DH-42, computer guy, easy going, NOT a thrill rider

DD, 15, has arthritis but doesn’t hardly complain, sweet as long as things go her way

DS, 12, high-maintenance, gifted, kvetcher, thrill seeker

We arrived in Orlando from my husband’s family condo in St Pete after a big breakfast at Bob Evans – we’re originally from Ohio although we’ve lived in Texas for 11 years and we look forward to Bob Evans sausage gravy-around 9:45 am and our room was ready! Amazing. My doctor had told me to enjoy my vacation and how can you not be happy when your room is ready that early. I didn’t do my normal good job picture taking because, well, I’m depressed for crying out loud. But it was beautiful, room 2561 and it overlooked the beach pool. We spent a decent amount of time in the room and it was so pleasant and enjoyable.




We unloaded our stuff and we were at Universal Studios by 10:30 am. First of all, Portofino is gorgeous. The landscaping and archectiture are beautiful with such attention to detail and my husband, whom rarely notices such things, was truly impressed. We got the boat to City Walk and let me tell you, although the experts on this board do an amazing job, I wasn’t smart enough to understand how ingeniously Universal is laid out. It’s so convenient that City Walk connects the two parks, and you only need to take the boat to one place to arrive at all three, and the fact that you can go to one park in the morning and the other in the afternoon is brilliant. It’s impressive and easy to navigate. I had no idea.


We went to US with our print at home week passes and breezed in, no fingerprint scan. We made a beeline for the Simpsons and there was hardly any wait in the Express. We enjoyed the video in the line, it made us laugh out loud many times, and the ride was hilarious and enjoyable. We then did MIB where I did horribly and my family did pretty well. Next stop, Disaster! The people that were chosen were hilarious and it was truly enjoyable. We then headed to the Mummy. Unbelievable. This ride is truly remarkable and we rode it three times right then. How they come up with their ideas is mind-boggling. I love how the attendants are clapping when you come in to unload, it always fires the people in your car up and everyone leaves happy and up after a great ride.

We then had a snack and some water, because we were still full from breakfast and wanted to eat an early dinner at Margarettaville. They had the interactive band playing on the street by the Boulangerie and Sam and I won beads for answering trivia contest questions correctly, my answer was Barney Miller, which is way too old for most people here to remember! We went to Jimmy Neutron, cute, Shrek, hilarious, and T2, which my kids didn’t understand at all because they’ve never seen the movies. I know, what kind of parents ARE we. Off to ET which was a nice break and then we went to Jaws, and our guide was darling, very animated and all the special effects went off as planned. After that, we were hot, crabby and tired, so we decided to call it a day and go to dinner. Sam was less than impressed with the quantity of thrill rides at US and made sure we knew it, although the rest of us told him how much we enjoyed it all.

By this time, the kids were being teenage-ish and my daughter and I were less than nice to each other. By the time we sat down, I tried to talk to her, but she wasn’t having any of it, and I don’t know if it was the fatigue, my anti-depressants, my depression or what, but I just sat there with tears rolling down my face, which is SO unlike me. I usually handle normal family dissent quite well. Of course, it wasn’t helped by the fact that Hannah’s back was hurting, which she never talks about, so it had to have been bad. The restaurant was crowded but we saw the volcano erupt and enjoyed the Jimmy Buffet videos while we ate and our food was terrific after I recovered from my unexpected silent crying jag and we all reconciled. We finished dinner, and headed back to Portofino. Hannah and Sam hit the pool and met some kids to hang out with, keeping in contact via our cell phones, and Michael and I hit the Bar American where Heather/Marie/Carmella our bartender engaged in spirited and interesting conversation while we had a drink. Next we met the kids for gelato and headed back to the room to prepare for day two.

 

[Metro West]

Great report so far...please continue!

 

[LeslieR]

We were there the same time. We must have been walking past just as you won the beads because I remember someone yelling out Barney Miller...Freaky!

Looking forward to more.

 

[chelliet]

Wow, thanks, I didn't think I would be any good at this! And that's hilarious that you heard me yell Barney Miller, because I was embarassed yet competitive enough to try and win!! I'll write more tomorrow.

 

[chelliet]

Day two I had the family wake up nice and early, which made me very unpopular, but I wanted to us to get to IOA at a decent time. The kids and I headed to the lounge and had Danish, cereal, fruit, juice and coffee and we really enjoyed it. While we were there, I asked about 1:00 reservations at Mythos and the concierge graciously took care of it. We got four water bottles to go, and headed to the park. We never made it to park opening once during our stay, which is amazing for us, but we were still there by 9:00. They did scan our fingerprints this time and it was the only time it went off in our line without a hitch. We personally didn’t have any problems but we saw plenty of people who did and it was frustrating for them.

We headed right to the Hulk. Michael didn’t ride it, so he was the bearer of all things, although this was the lightest we had ever traveled in a park. We used the Loews blue pouches and they came in so handy, even if they weren’t the most stylish. That initial acceleration on the Hulk is incredible. The first time we rode it, when it was so unexpected, was the best ride we had on the Hulk. When we got off, Michael said he tried to listen for our screams, but he said every train that went by screamed exactly like us! We promptly got back in line and rode it again. Finally, my son was satisfied. Sam rode Dr. Doom by himself, and that became his favorite ride. His goal after that was to get the rest of us to ride it, but most of us declined. We then hit Spiderman. First of all, the line to ride has great attention to detail and is fun all by itself. This is another thing that I never fully understood what it was and it seems indescribable. Hannah and I spent the whole time holding our hands in front of our faces to shield ourselves and the ending truly delivered. Next stop was Seuss land. We wanted to ride Cat in the Hat and Sam wanted none of it, but after we rode this trippy ride that has such great spins, it became one of his favorites. He did refuse to ride the Seuss carousel.

Now, it was onward to Dueling Dragons. I forgot to wear my hiking shoes to get on this ride, man, is it long! I was wearing flip flops, so I had to sit on them to make sure I didn’t lose them. We rode Fire first and then Ice. I fully expected to like Fire more, but I have to say I preferred Ice. It just seemed smoother or something. It’s a great ride no matter what.

Next Jurassic Park, it was really hot, so I think I would have liked this better at night. Again, attention to detail is great, and that ending is scary ( to me anyway!). We all had our bathing suits on under our clothes so we decided to hit Dudley Do-Right and Popeye. The kids didn’t even know who Dudley was, so I spent most of the ride explaining it to them, then all four of us rode Popeye. We rode with a family from the UK and they had a son and daughter like us, only the son was a few years older than Sam. The girl was cute as a button, and the great part of the ride is the water seemed to keep aiming for her, and while she always looked genuinely surprised every time it happened, which cracked us all up, she was very good natured about it. My swimsuit under my shorts didn’t work out too well; my shorts were cotton and spandex and they not only took forever to dry, it felt like they were sagging about a foot from where they should have been! I kept trying to sit on hot benches to suck the water out of them, and we headed back to Dr. Doom to satisfy Sam.

While we were waiting for him, Michael and Hannah went shopping and I was sitting on the curb waiting for Sam. There were about 10 other adults sitting there with me, right outside the Marvel store next to Spiderman and across from the arcade. On the left hand side, Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin came out. There were two women who were talking and not paying attention when Dr. Doom put his huge hand on her shoulder and she let out a blood-curdling scream! It was hilarious. Then there was a woman standing by the trash can and the Goblin went behind her and kept blowing on her until she noticed him, and she startled, but she didn’t scream and she said ”Hello!”. Sometimes I enjoy these moments more than the rides.

Next stop, Mythos. We were seated almost immediately and the place was packed. I had the beef tip risotto, Sam had the buffalo chicken wrap, and Michael and Hannah salmon, hers on a cedar plank with mashed potatoes and his on a spinach salad. We started with the shrimp tempura appetizer because my family loves sushi. The food was outstanding and greatly enjoyed, but after that, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest and come back later.

 

[LeslieR]

That's funny about the Dudley ride. My son was the same way. He wanted all the details of the cartoon. Something about it intrigued him.

 

[tlinus]

great report

will be right here - waiting for more

 

[macraven]

don't stop now.....we need more.....

great reporting!

 

[chelliet]

Sorry, I've been working a lot and I'll write more when I get a chance. Thanks for all the encouragement!

 

[chelliet]

Well, we headed back to the hotel and hung out for a while, rested, watched some tv and then headed to the lounge to have some appetizers. Michael and Sam didn’t eat because they were still full, but Hannah and I had fried ravioli with marinara, spinach stuffed phyllo, and cheese and crackers. It was yummy and just the right amount. We then headed to IOA and rode the Hulk again, and then the Cat in the Hat. Then we went to Poseidon’s Fury, and we love mythology in our house, so we really liked this. The actors at the park, I think, are top notch. They’re engaging and interesting and suck you into the story line. We then talked Michael into riding Dueling Dragons, but I could see that the sky was looking ominous. I chase tornadoes, but I hate lightening, it makes me nervous. I know, go figure. And sure enough, just as we were to get on, they shut the ride down. My goal was to get to an enclosed space before it got bad, so Hannah and I headed to Circus McGirkus and ordered a pizza and drinks, just in the knick of time, because the skies opened up and the line became miles long. We stayed there for about 45 minutes, and in the drizzle, decided to go to US and ride the Simpsons and the Mummy again. We rode the Mummy twice, since it was still kind of raining, and it’s better at night. I know that’s psychological, but it works. And for the first time, we noticed that they had a missing employee flyer posted at the exit matching the kid at the beginning of the ride. That was clever.

We then decided to have Ben and Jerry’s for “dinner”. We had double ice cream cones, and Sam had a shake. I got the peanut butter chocolate and the one with the gooey chocolate stuff in it. Of course, I got it all over me too! We then rode MIB and I feel terrible walking by all those people who are waiting. It’s so obvious. We then did Simpsons again and we liked it better the second time, we were able to catch more stuff.

We headed back to our now beloved Portofino and Michael got some desert at Sal’s while Sam had a panini. It’s very pleasant at night, it’s cooler, the music is playing and it’s relaxing. We decided to sleep in the next day, and take it easy. Stay tuned, it won’t be so long this time!