Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
- Messages
- 1,671
Day 6 (May 7) Islands of Adventure, check in to All Star Music
Ellen (34) Disney Veteran, 20+trips since 1973
John (37) Devoted husband, father, and son-in-law. 5th time to WDW
Mom (59) Ellens Mom, veteran but first trip since mid-80s
Anabelle (5) Princess, first class. 3rd time to WDW
Rebecca (20 months) Princess-in-Training, 1st time to WDW
We left the condo on time at 7:00am. We hit some traffic in Tampa and construction on I-4. Our biggest delay was Anabelle, crying in the back seat with a sore throat and stomach ache. I ended up squeezing myself between the girls carseats in the third row of our minivan to try to comfort her. Turns out she had chugged two sippy cups of chocolate milk in a row (she drank the one that was supposed to be for the afternoon as soon as we got in the car). After a pitstop, she felt better but I wedged myself between the girls again, becoming a human pillow for the next hour.
We arrived at Universal at 9:25, quickly parked and headed in. Parking was $8, or $12 for preferred. Im glad we chose the $8 version, seeing as we were right next to the elevator, one floor up from the $12 folks. I can ride the elevator one floor to save $4 any day. We made the seemingly endless walk from the parking deck, through CityWalk, to Islands of Adventure. I had purchased our tickets at our local AAA office before we left at a price of $49 per adult and $41 for Anabelle. Our bags were checked, my mom somehow managing to get the only guard who was actually looking. I only had to open one of the three sections of my backpack, our two cooler bags remained untouched in the bottom of the stroller. My mom had a small purse and they spotted her deadly blade, oh wait, I mean nailfile. They wanted her to throw it away under supervision. You would have to know my mom, but she, not surprisingly refused. After much discussion, she left it at guest services and demanded a receipt.
The crowd was very light. We went right over to Spiderman and hopped on. We really thought Anabelle would like this ride, but she refused to get on. This is a girl who at age 5 has already been on some pretty wicked roller coasters. She has been on all eight of the roller coasters at Paramounts Carowinds that she meets the height restrictions for and likes them all. However, we didnt push it. John kept the girls in the babyswap room while my mom and I rode, then I hopped back on with John. I have to say that IoA does a great job with the baby swap thing. Each attraction had a room with chairs, some with TVs where the non riding adult can wait with the little ones.
John and I hopped on Dr. Dooms tower with no wait, we didnt even have any one riding with us. Anabelle had spotted Spiderman the character, so we got picture and autographs. Even Rebecca waved, bye, Spidy. It was so darned cute! We gave Anabelle the choice of going to Seuss Landing or Toon Lagoon next and she chose Toon Lagoon. She didnt want to ride anything which was somewhat upsetting since we really thought shed enjoy this park. We did the ultimate bad parent thing of taking her against her will on Popeye & Blutos Bilge Rat Barges. She began laughing as soon as we started moving and really enjoyed it while we were on it. However, when we got off she said it was too wet and gave it a thumbs sideways on her thumb rating system. We let her dry off with Grammy and some popcorn ($4 in a souvenir bucket) while John and I rode Ripsaw Falls. I think this one gives Splash Mountain a run for the money. It has great theming and some really fun drops. We let Anabelle play for a while on Olive Oyls ship. She claimed this was her favorite part of the park. It is a really cool three level interactive playground. We finally tore her away promising a ride on the Flying Unicorn. We were really disappointed to find that the other kiddie coaster, the Pteranodon Flyers was closed for the day. You have to have a child accompany an adult on that one and John and I didnt get to try it on our last visit which was without Anabelle. She really enjoyed the Unicorn though, riding it twice in a row with no wait. John and I then headed to Dueling Dragons. We had the longest wait of the day there, about 10 minutes to ride the first car on the Fire side. We then hopped right back on the Ice side. We met up with my mom and the girls at the Mystical Fountain. Anabelle had a great time teasing the fountain and whoever it was controlling it did a great job teasing her back. We finally tore her away so we could go get some lunch.
We had surprisingly good salads at Circus McGurkus Café. The kids split a pizza. We saved a little over $3 at lunch using our AAA card for the 10% discount, enough to pay for an ice cream later! After lunch we hit the Caro-Seuss-El which does look a little worse for wear these days. Many of the horses were missing eyelashes or had parts strapped back on. Cat in the Hat was next with about a 5 minute wait. Its a great concept, but I think it lacks a little in the execution. A few of the props were obviously missing. There was no net in the bet I can get that Thing with my net part, oh well! We then did 1 Fish, 2 Fish, both girls really liked it.
We made our way back over to The Lost Continent for the 3:30pm show of the 8th Adventure of Sinbad. It was a nicely done stunt show. Anabelle loved the princess, it was a little much for Rebecca. The pyrotechnics sent her into my moms shoulder a few times. Triceratops adventure was next. It was as I remembered it, a very long queue with a rather lame ending. Anabelle enjoyed moving along the path looking for the raptors that had escaped. We talked Anabelle into the Jurassic Park River Adventure. This prompted a triple, very much thumbs down rating. But at least she tried. She was really enamored with the whole superhero thing so we made it back over to Marvel SuperHero Island for the 5:00 parade. After pictures with Captain America and some X-Men (Storm, Rogue, and my favorite, Wolverine), John and I hopped on the Hulk with no wait. John had promised Anabelle another ride on the Flying Unicorn, so he took her over and mom and I took Rebecca back to Seuss Landing. We explored the If I Ran the Zoo area which was very cute. Once we reunited, Anabelle very proudly told me she rode on the Unicorn all by herself (dad in the car behind). I was suitably impressed! We hit Cat in the Hat and 1 Fish, 2 Fish again then headed over for a final ride on Spidy. Anabelle decided to try it, another big thumbs down. But at least she gave it a go. We then left the park, my mom reclaiming her nefarious nail file. A security guard brought it out to her once we were out of the park. We stopped at Starbucks in CityWalk on the way out and then headed over to check into All Star Music.
There was no one in line at the front desk, so I was able to go right up. However, the CM was just past his training period and it took us over 30 minutes to check in for one lousy night! Now to be fair, we did have some requests. My mom decided she wanted a fridge for her insulin, she had originally planned on just using the cooler. They were able to put one in the room for no charge due to medical necessity. We also had the CM check three ParkHoppers to see which two had a day left. He was able to check it right on his screen after a call to find out how to do it. By this time a line was forming and the two CMs who were originally also at the desk had disappeared. We finally got a room assignment but then the computer locked up and wouldnt print our keys. We decided to go over to the food court for dinner and to pick up our keys later. Dinner was very good, I had a grilled chicken sandwich and John had a cheese steak. The kids shared a chicken nugget meal. My mom had some trouble as there was not much for her to choose from. She is an insulin dependant diabetic and must have very few carbs. She was sick and tired of salads and tried to get something vegetarian from the grill. They said cheese pizza was the best they could do, but that was too high in carbs and fat. Finally the chef came out and said he could grill up some veggies for her. She ended up with a delicious mix of portabella mushrooms, broccoli, onions, and carrots with a side of marinara sauce. It smelled wonderful and she enjoyed it. They didnt charge us for it since it was such a hassle to get it, which I thought was really nice. We finally made it to our room, Calypso 1655 with a nice pool view. I wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy it! The girls watched the bedtime stories and we all promptly collapsed.
Ellen (34) Disney Veteran, 20+trips since 1973
John (37) Devoted husband, father, and son-in-law. 5th time to WDW
Mom (59) Ellens Mom, veteran but first trip since mid-80s
Anabelle (5) Princess, first class. 3rd time to WDW
Rebecca (20 months) Princess-in-Training, 1st time to WDW
We left the condo on time at 7:00am. We hit some traffic in Tampa and construction on I-4. Our biggest delay was Anabelle, crying in the back seat with a sore throat and stomach ache. I ended up squeezing myself between the girls carseats in the third row of our minivan to try to comfort her. Turns out she had chugged two sippy cups of chocolate milk in a row (she drank the one that was supposed to be for the afternoon as soon as we got in the car). After a pitstop, she felt better but I wedged myself between the girls again, becoming a human pillow for the next hour.
We arrived at Universal at 9:25, quickly parked and headed in. Parking was $8, or $12 for preferred. Im glad we chose the $8 version, seeing as we were right next to the elevator, one floor up from the $12 folks. I can ride the elevator one floor to save $4 any day. We made the seemingly endless walk from the parking deck, through CityWalk, to Islands of Adventure. I had purchased our tickets at our local AAA office before we left at a price of $49 per adult and $41 for Anabelle. Our bags were checked, my mom somehow managing to get the only guard who was actually looking. I only had to open one of the three sections of my backpack, our two cooler bags remained untouched in the bottom of the stroller. My mom had a small purse and they spotted her deadly blade, oh wait, I mean nailfile. They wanted her to throw it away under supervision. You would have to know my mom, but she, not surprisingly refused. After much discussion, she left it at guest services and demanded a receipt.
The crowd was very light. We went right over to Spiderman and hopped on. We really thought Anabelle would like this ride, but she refused to get on. This is a girl who at age 5 has already been on some pretty wicked roller coasters. She has been on all eight of the roller coasters at Paramounts Carowinds that she meets the height restrictions for and likes them all. However, we didnt push it. John kept the girls in the babyswap room while my mom and I rode, then I hopped back on with John. I have to say that IoA does a great job with the baby swap thing. Each attraction had a room with chairs, some with TVs where the non riding adult can wait with the little ones.
John and I hopped on Dr. Dooms tower with no wait, we didnt even have any one riding with us. Anabelle had spotted Spiderman the character, so we got picture and autographs. Even Rebecca waved, bye, Spidy. It was so darned cute! We gave Anabelle the choice of going to Seuss Landing or Toon Lagoon next and she chose Toon Lagoon. She didnt want to ride anything which was somewhat upsetting since we really thought shed enjoy this park. We did the ultimate bad parent thing of taking her against her will on Popeye & Blutos Bilge Rat Barges. She began laughing as soon as we started moving and really enjoyed it while we were on it. However, when we got off she said it was too wet and gave it a thumbs sideways on her thumb rating system. We let her dry off with Grammy and some popcorn ($4 in a souvenir bucket) while John and I rode Ripsaw Falls. I think this one gives Splash Mountain a run for the money. It has great theming and some really fun drops. We let Anabelle play for a while on Olive Oyls ship. She claimed this was her favorite part of the park. It is a really cool three level interactive playground. We finally tore her away promising a ride on the Flying Unicorn. We were really disappointed to find that the other kiddie coaster, the Pteranodon Flyers was closed for the day. You have to have a child accompany an adult on that one and John and I didnt get to try it on our last visit which was without Anabelle. She really enjoyed the Unicorn though, riding it twice in a row with no wait. John and I then headed to Dueling Dragons. We had the longest wait of the day there, about 10 minutes to ride the first car on the Fire side. We then hopped right back on the Ice side. We met up with my mom and the girls at the Mystical Fountain. Anabelle had a great time teasing the fountain and whoever it was controlling it did a great job teasing her back. We finally tore her away so we could go get some lunch.
We had surprisingly good salads at Circus McGurkus Café. The kids split a pizza. We saved a little over $3 at lunch using our AAA card for the 10% discount, enough to pay for an ice cream later! After lunch we hit the Caro-Seuss-El which does look a little worse for wear these days. Many of the horses were missing eyelashes or had parts strapped back on. Cat in the Hat was next with about a 5 minute wait. Its a great concept, but I think it lacks a little in the execution. A few of the props were obviously missing. There was no net in the bet I can get that Thing with my net part, oh well! We then did 1 Fish, 2 Fish, both girls really liked it.
We made our way back over to The Lost Continent for the 3:30pm show of the 8th Adventure of Sinbad. It was a nicely done stunt show. Anabelle loved the princess, it was a little much for Rebecca. The pyrotechnics sent her into my moms shoulder a few times. Triceratops adventure was next. It was as I remembered it, a very long queue with a rather lame ending. Anabelle enjoyed moving along the path looking for the raptors that had escaped. We talked Anabelle into the Jurassic Park River Adventure. This prompted a triple, very much thumbs down rating. But at least she tried. She was really enamored with the whole superhero thing so we made it back over to Marvel SuperHero Island for the 5:00 parade. After pictures with Captain America and some X-Men (Storm, Rogue, and my favorite, Wolverine), John and I hopped on the Hulk with no wait. John had promised Anabelle another ride on the Flying Unicorn, so he took her over and mom and I took Rebecca back to Seuss Landing. We explored the If I Ran the Zoo area which was very cute. Once we reunited, Anabelle very proudly told me she rode on the Unicorn all by herself (dad in the car behind). I was suitably impressed! We hit Cat in the Hat and 1 Fish, 2 Fish again then headed over for a final ride on Spidy. Anabelle decided to try it, another big thumbs down. But at least she gave it a go. We then left the park, my mom reclaiming her nefarious nail file. A security guard brought it out to her once we were out of the park. We stopped at Starbucks in CityWalk on the way out and then headed over to check into All Star Music.
There was no one in line at the front desk, so I was able to go right up. However, the CM was just past his training period and it took us over 30 minutes to check in for one lousy night! Now to be fair, we did have some requests. My mom decided she wanted a fridge for her insulin, she had originally planned on just using the cooler. They were able to put one in the room for no charge due to medical necessity. We also had the CM check three ParkHoppers to see which two had a day left. He was able to check it right on his screen after a call to find out how to do it. By this time a line was forming and the two CMs who were originally also at the desk had disappeared. We finally got a room assignment but then the computer locked up and wouldnt print our keys. We decided to go over to the food court for dinner and to pick up our keys later. Dinner was very good, I had a grilled chicken sandwich and John had a cheese steak. The kids shared a chicken nugget meal. My mom had some trouble as there was not much for her to choose from. She is an insulin dependant diabetic and must have very few carbs. She was sick and tired of salads and tried to get something vegetarian from the grill. They said cheese pizza was the best they could do, but that was too high in carbs and fat. Finally the chef came out and said he could grill up some veggies for her. She ended up with a delicious mix of portabella mushrooms, broccoli, onions, and carrots with a side of marinara sauce. It smelled wonderful and she enjoyed it. They didnt charge us for it since it was such a hassle to get it, which I thought was really nice. We finally made it to our room, Calypso 1655 with a nice pool view. I wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy it! The girls watched the bedtime stories and we all promptly collapsed.
