Welcome, Foolish Muggles! IoA/US/MK/SW *July 2013 Trip Report Link*

[burly]

I like it. Just read all of it. Looking forward to more.


KIM

 

[natebenma]

Subbing!!

Loving your report so far!! Can you tell me more about the medicine you took for the motion sickness? When i cruise, I use the TransDerm patch which I have more of so was thinking of using for the next time I got to US and IOA but, a pill would be nice!!

Bonine is what we used to prevent motion sickness. It is sold over-the-counter and the long medical name is:

Meclizine Hydrochlroide 25 mg . Antiemetic (anti-nausea)

I purchased the Raspberry Flavored Chewable Once a Day Protection

Unlike Dramamine, it does not induce drowsiness

****************************************

My nausea is mostly on spinny rides- tea cups, NO WAY!, Astro-Orbitors at MK did me in one year and even Dumbo scares me! I didn't know how I would react to the moving, simulator rides (Forbidden Journey, Spiderman, Simpsons), but I was fine with the Bonine

Rollercoasters are never really an issue with me.

HTH

 

[natebenma]

= Best. Ride. EVER!

And just think what it will be like when they revamp the movie quality next year!

Great update! It kills me when the kids blow their money on something they will soon outgrow.
I hope you make it to Dinosaur.

Nate is at an age where he is very particular about what he wears. A lot of his wardrobe consists of sports shirts- NFL (players from different teams) and NBA (mostly Celtics). First thing he said when I told him Chad OchoCinco (sp?) was traded to the Patriots: "I want the shirt"

We still have two more visits to IoA (actually, Nate and I have 3), so I think we will be ok!

I wonder if they know that

Even at the "dark side" I'm on duty!!!

I like it. Just read all of it. Looking forward to more.


KIM

Thanks so much for your comments!

I'll post another update tomorrow morning.

 

[Bethannk511]

Bonine is what we used to prevent motion sickness. It is sold over-the-counter and the long medical name is:

Meclizine Hydrochlroide 25 mg . Antiemetic (anti-nausea)

I purchased the Raspberry Flavored Chewable Once a Day Protection

Unlike Dramamine, it does not induce drowsiness

****************************************

My nausea is mostly on spinny rides- tea cups, NO WAY!, Astro-Orbitors at MK did me in one year and even Dumbo scares me! I didn't know how I would react to the moving, simulator rides (Forbidden Journey, Spiderman, Simpsons), but I was fine with the Bonine

Rollercoasters are never really an issue with me.

HTH

Great! Thanks so much!! I'm a spinning ride avoider myself. I remember vividly fighting with my father (who also hates spinning rides) about riding the tea cups with my sister as children because she insisted and i wouldn't!! I went on Mission:Space when it first opened, not knowing what it was. Needless to say, I was bed ridden the rest of the day!!!

Can't wait to try this stuff!! Thank you!!!

 

[jmamom]

Thanks for the tip on Bonine. My 10 year old is getting motion sickness a lot lately - going to have to get some for our trip!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Bonine is what we used to prevent motion sickness. It is sold over-the-counter and the long medical name is:

Meclizine Hydrochlroide 25 mg . Antiemetic (anti-nausea)

I purchased the Raspberry Flavored Chewable Once a Day Protection

Unlike Dramamine, it does not induce drowsiness

****************************************

My nausea is mostly on spinny rides- tea cups, NO WAY!, Astro-Orbitors at MK did me in one year and even Dumbo scares me! I didn't know how I would react to the moving, simulator rides (Forbidden Journey, Spiderman, Simpsons), but I was fine with the Bonine

Rollercoasters are never really an issue with me.

HTH

I'm gonna try taking Bonine this year too. That was one of the reasons I didn't like Universal that much- b/c of all the simulation rides I had to close my eyes on quite a few. And sat out on the kids & DH second ride on Spiderman.
I love rollercoaters but anything that moves and has a screen in front of me- forget it!
Thanks again for the great tip

 

[JanetMom]

(like MM, I'm anxious for more )

 

[natebenma]

Great! Thanks so much!! I'm a spinning ride avoider myself. I remember vividly fighting with my father (who also hates spinning rides) about riding the tea cups with my sister as children because she insisted and i wouldn't!! I went on Mission:Space when it first opened, not knowing what it was. Needless to say, I was bed ridden the rest of the day!!!

Can't wait to try this stuff!! Thank you!!!

I'm ok on M:S Green. I won't try orange.

My husband and Ben tried M:S Orange last July. When they came off the ride and met us in the waiting area, Ben had a huge smile on his face

"I puked! 3 times!"

Gotta love boys (he did successfully utilize the barf bag on the ride)

Thanks for the tip on Bonine. My 10 year old is getting motion sickness a lot lately - going to have to get some for our trip!

Hope it helps!

I'm gonna try taking Bonine this year too. That was one of the reasons I didn't like Universal that much- b/c of all the simulation rides I had to close my eyes on quite a few. And sat out on the kids & DH second ride on Spiderman.
I love rollercoaters but anything that moves and has a screen in front of me- forget it!
Thanks again for the great tip

Again, hope the Bonine works well for you!

I feel like a pharmacist!

(like MM, I'm anxious for more )

Thanks so much! I'll work on an update for tomorrow morning.

 

[DrMomof3]

I'm super jealous of your Gryffindor shirt! So cute!!!
I've heard Spiderman is a cool ride.

Amanda

 

[pixarmom]

I LOVE YOUR HP SHIRT!!!!!! That's a great find. So festive and so cute!

As for Seuss, after seeing the photo of Nate and Ben, our boys have concluded that part of Universal must be "lame." So my chances of experiencing those rides is probably pretty low. Of course, they have far more interest in Marvel and your most recent update.

As for Bertie Botts, I'm happy we ran out. We went to a premier party for Part I of Deathly Hallows and the gift bag included stuff like a HP scarf, wand, chocolate somethings (those were great!), and the Bertie Botts. Boys LOVED them.

Again, and as always, great report!

 

[natebenma]

I'm super jealous of your Gryffindor shirt! So cute!!!
I've heard Spiderman is a cool ride.

Amanda

I like the shirt, too. It is more like a football style (well, Quiddich), so it is "fancier" than a t-shirt. I wore it when I finally went to see DHP2 and to a theatre group meeting, to make everyone jealous!!!

Spiderman was fun!

I LOVE YOUR HP SHIRT!!!!!! That's a great find. So festive and so cute!

As for Seuss, after seeing the photo of Nate and Ben, our boys have concluded that part of Universal must be "lame." So my chances of experiencing those rides is probably pretty low. Of course, they have far more interest in Marvel and your most recent update.

As for Bertie Botts, I'm happy we ran out. We went to a premier party for Part I of Deathly Hallows and the gift bag included stuff like a HP scarf, wand, chocolate somethings (those were great!), and the Bertie Botts. Boys LOVED them.

Again, and as always, great report!

We are not souvenir shoppers, but I really loved the shirt when I saw it. It was not inexpensive ($32, but there was a AAA discount), but I can see myself wearing it, so I splurged! I don't think Mark got anything for himself.

So is it not "lame" to say lame? Everyone who posted here and on my Universal report says how much fun Cat in the Hat is! Do they like the Pooh ride? The High in the Sky Trolley was kind of lame, but the views of Seussland and some of the other parts of the park were really good.

I didn't get to try any Bertie Botts. I think I would have enjoyed the black pepper. They do give you a chart identifying the flavours, so that is good.

 

[LovintheLodge]

Hi Dee! When we went to US/IOA back in 2005 my kids were 12 and 14. The only thing we did in Seuss land was the Cat in the Hat ride...which was cute and yes similar to Pooh and other Fantasyland rides. The only thing I didn't like was the spinning at the end. The Trolly wasn't opened yet...

Kerry

 

[natebenma]

Hi Dee! When we went to US/IOA back in 2005 my kids were 12 and 14. The only thing we did in Seuss land was the Cat in the Hat ride...which was cute and yes similar to Pooh and other Fantasyland rides. The only thing I didn't like was the spinning at the end. The Trolly wasn't opened yet...

Kerry

Thanks! How bad was the spinning? Maybe it is not such a bad thing that we skipped it.

Kerry- just saw your PM- I will e-mail you.

 

[natebenma]

Ben is practically a marine biologist.

OK, I exaggerate a bit, but he loves marine animals and knows a LOT about sharks, whales, turtles and more. We are fortunate to live near the seacoast and our family has grown up tidepooling, whalewatching and attending awesome monthly marine programs at a local Audubon center. My dad has volunteered as a marine docent, going into schools and working at a different science center on the seacoast in NH and we have learned a lot from him.

Don’t let us catch you calling that Sea Star a “Starfish”!

We have tons of books on ocean life and Ben’s fascination with creatures of the deep almost rivals his devotion to dinosaurs.

We had not visited Sea World since a one-day visit in 2004, so as part of our “Other Orlando” trip, this was high on our list. As I mentioned in my intro, we purchased Buy 1 day, Get 1 day free tickets (at child prices) before our trip.

We decided that the best way to see Sea World was in two half-day visits. Today our focus was to see the Shamu show, since the late afternoon/evening shows tend to be less crowded, and then hit rides and exhibits another morning.

We took a taxi cab from Portofino Bay Resort to Sea World, $19 plus tip. We arrived around 4 PM. Shamu show was scheduled for 5:30, so we had a time to enjoy a few exhibits first.

We started out at the Ray aquarium- this reminded us a lot of The DIG at Atlantis.

Aren’t these Sea Dragons the coolest things!

Someone had a long day!

As we started out towards Shamu Stadium and we encountered the Shark Encounter. The shark tunnel was super crowded, so we just looked at a couple of exhibits inside then went to the outside viewing pools.

Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

It was time to get seats for the show. It was hot, so we decided to purchase water from a cart before going in. There were two families ahead of us in line, and I swear, it took 15 minutes for us to get our water!!! Sea World has some sort of refillable drink thing going on, and I don’t know how it possibly took that long to wait on so few people, but it did! When we arrived at the stadium, we found drink and snack concessions with no lines. D’OH!

We found seats right over one of the entrance ramps, 2nd level, almost center of the stadium. They were really good seats since nobody could sit in front of us, but there was a seating rail that got in the way of our views, just a little.

Before the show, the screen showed different cartoon sea animals: a sea horse, pufferfish, hermit crab and octopus and you could text your name to a number listed with each animal and your name would be posted on the board during the preshow. Nate texted a couple of times using the names (Nate Ben)- which we saw and (Walt Disney)-which never did appear on screen. Saw a couple of (Harry Potters) and (Voldemorts) listed though.

The Shamu show was recently changed, in April I think, to One Ocean

The set is gorgeous, and during the performance there are beautiful ocean and underwater scenes showing while the Orcas are performing.

It is AMAZING what creatures that big can do!

Towards the end of the show, the narration discussed how it is important for everyone to do what we can to protect the oceans. I deeply love and care about the Earth and her beaches and oceans, so I am very pleased to support this cause. But I found it ironic that it was difficult to find recycling disposal containers at Sea World. Just sayin’! They do have a bin as you exit the park where you can recycle your park maps, but throughout our stay at the park, it was difficult to find a place to recycle our bottles.


Right across from Shamu stadium is the Wild Arctic exhibit. You can take a simulated helicopter ride (things go wrong during your trip, a la Mission:Space at EPCOT). Things actually had gone wrong in the preshow for me- there are subtitles when the helicopter pilot gives flight instructions and explains how they want to “insure” (not ensure) our safety. Sea World needs proofreaders.

The helicopter ride was fun, though, and you are let off at an Arctic Sea Base

There is a wall of ”ice” that feels cold and wet when you touch it. Very neat!

Don’t stick your tongue on that!

There are Polar Bears and Beluga Whales on exhibit. I don’t have great pictures of the Polar Bear, but this was taken right before he/she rolled over. Very cool!

There is also a scale you and your family can climb on and compare your weight to things like Polar Bears and Walruses. I won’t tell you who was on the scale or how we compared!

We exited the Arctic exhibit, and that’s when things got very WET!!!

Before leaving the Portofino that afternoon, we had the Great Poncho Debate. Should we take them or not? Sky was beautiful and blue with very few clouds. Mark thought it would be a good idea to pack a backpack and bring the ponchos. I didn’t think they were necessary.

Mark won that discussion.

Phew!!!

Nate refused to wear his poncho. (Lame?)

The worst part of the thunderstorm was that a bunch of routes to the exits were closed off because they didn’t want us travelling on bridges over water. It was a long way out of the park.

It was around 6:30, and at this point we really needed to get some food. But all of the places at Sea World were mob scenes with people trying to duck out of the storm.

We checked at Sharks Underwater Grill, a restaurant adjacent to the viewing for the shark tunnel- think Coral Reef. The wait here was over an hour.

Where should we eat???

I had what I thought was a brilliant idea! Instead of heading back to our resort, let’s go to City Walk. There are a bunch of restaurants there!

Next up: Dinner Panda-monium

 

[bubba's mom]

So is it not "lame" to say lame? Everyone who posted here and on my Universal report says how much fun Cat in the Hat is! Do they like the Pooh ride? The High in the Sky Trolley was kind of lame, but the views of Seussland and some of the other parts of the park were really good.

unless you are in elementary school, usually High in the Sky Trolley is boring. Most adults (older teens) go for the views from up high. I think Cat in the Hat is fun...it follows the storyline of the book.

Thanks! How bad was the spinning? Maybe it is not such a bad thing that we skipped it.

The spinning was taken out last year when there was an incident. (that's why I was hoping you were on it...so I could find out if they put it back in) Parents were not paying attention to their small child on the ride, and at the spin part, the kid went flying out of the ride vehicle. So, one option was to take the spin out. Which, imo, totally ruined it. The spin comes at a part where you're in a 'neon' room and it chaos because Cat has wrecked the house and Mom is coming! The spin added to the fun of the chaos. And, it was only 2 or 3 spins and that was it. Only takes 1 to ruin it for everybody

I'm liking the SeaWorld review. It's someplace we've never been (yet...on the bucket list) but one day we'll get there. Since my DH doesn't like standing in lines, I'm guessing it'll be once the boy moves on to college and we can travel off summer-season.

 

[natebenma]

unless you are in elementary school, usually High in the Sky Trolley is boring. Most adults (older teens) go for the views from up high. I think Cat in the Hat is fun...it follows the storyline of the book.



The spinning was taken out last year when there was an incident. (that's why I was hoping you were on it...so I could find out if they put it back in) Parents were not paying attention to their small child on the ride, and at the spin part, the kid went flying out of the ride vehicle. So, one option was to take the spin out. Which, imo, totally ruined it. The spin comes at a part where you're in a 'neon' room and it chaos because Cat has wrecked the house and Mom is coming! The spin added to the fun of the chaos. And, it was only 2 or 3 spins and that was it. Only takes 1 to ruin it for everybody


I'm liking the SeaWorld review. It's someplace we've never been (yet...on the bucket list) but one day we'll get there. Since my DH doesn't like standing in lines, I'm guessing it'll be once the boy moves on to college and we can travel off summer-season.

I did not know that about Cat in the Hat. That is a shame! I only started following the Universal forums a few months ago.

I just learned one of my DIS friends will be going to Universal/IoA soon- if she checks out Cat in the Hat, I will report back.

I'm glad we went to Sea World- I will have more to report from the morning we were there (Thursday of our visit). It is definitely not an "every year" sort of park. Nate loved the coasters there, though, Manta and Kraken.

We are also somewhat jaded having visited Atlantis in the Bahamas for 5 nights in 2009. That place is INCREDIBLE!!!

 

[eandesmom]

I'm here! Now off to catch up

 

[eandesmom]

It was around 2:00. Or maybe 1:00. More about that later. No matter what the time, we were a pretty hungry quartet.

We walked into Lombard’s and were seated immediately.

Right here:

Have I mentioned that the Front of the Line for resort guests really ROCKS???

.

You guys did a TON at Universal! I agree with you about Shrek, by the time we saw it we were so over 3D things it wasn't even funny. Same thing with the Jimmy Neutron ride. Clearly they made such an impression I forgot to even mention them in my TR. That lunch looks good, I wish we'd gone there instead of the Italian place. FOTLP pass saves a trip if you ask me, if you are going during peak times like you did.

​

Here is your Entrance Exam for Hogwarts.

Can you pass this O.W.L. ???

Warning: the following post is for serious Harry Potter fans only (Potterheads? Griffindorks?)

Predictably, the Ravenclaws had the highest score on the O.W.L.

I have a funny story about this. When we wre there last summer, Eric picked up a hat for his best friend, a Gryffindor hat. Turns out Raven claw is his favorite house. Both Eric and his friend are in a gifted kids program, called Highly Capable. His friends comment was "Ravenclaw is the hi-cap of Hogwarts"

Do you remember when the book “Deathly Hallows” came out and you were thinking, What the h*ll are “Deathly Hallows” anyway? Is it a place? Is it a poison? I found the title of the book was confusing and misleading. Maybe intentionally. Like the one above.

LOVE the title! that's a riot. Your crowds look similar to what we say on our first day at IOA but never ran into the timed entry issue, how stressful. You are SUCH a rule breaker with the photos!!!!!!!!!!!! Traveling light makes it so much easier though.

I don't know about you but I find myself troubled that all the Hallows still are out there. I know in the movie he breaks the wand but that's not what happens in the book....

Interesting that you decided to do Sea World in 2 parts. Is it that close to Universal?

I still can't get over the fact you didn't eat with Jimmy.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I was a couple of updates behind. You had me smiling with your Dr. Seuss type rhymes. Too bad the boys didn't want to check out more of Seuss Landing but I can kinda understand why since it looked like it was geared more towards younger kids.

Oh the pictures of Sea World brought back memories of our visit there. I love love love Sea World but John is just so-so about it so we haven't been back. Your pictures of the whales are great!