You can take the girl out of Disney, BUT

[Kathy Jetson]

E.T. was one of my favorites there. I love dark rides they are just my speed.

Your photo bomber sure looks happy, at least he isn't giving the camera a dirty look!

River wanted to meet Barney when we were there but we never saw him. A friend had given me a big box of Barney vcr tapes when River was little and he loved it he would watch them OVER and Over.

 

[dizneeat]

ET is such a fun little ride ... and I can NEVER hear our names at the end of the ride either!
It was fun to see the area you walked through, as this is an area we have never been to in all our visits!
And guess what, we have never been in the regular line for the Simpsons. Since we only go to the parks when we stay there we always use their Express system. Maybe we SHOULD wait it out once ...... but we waited over 3 hours for the Back to the future ride in California during out first visit ..... and I do NOT want to repeat that experience (the wait .... not the ride, that was wonderful!)

 

[jenseib]

Just loving all this Universal tips and tours !!!!

Thanks!

E.T. was one of my favorites there. I love dark rides they are just my speed.

Your photo bomber sure looks happy, at least he isn't giving the camera a dirty look!

River wanted to meet Barney when we were there but we never saw him. A friend had given me a big box of Barney vcr tapes when River was little and he loved it he would watch them OVER and Over.

Claire used to be a huge Barney fan too. We had tapes left from when Michael and Paige were little and I got a ton on ebay too. We used to watch Bareny for hours. Now she just makes a face when I mention him. Where did my little girl go?

ET is such a fun little ride ... and I can NEVER hear our names at the end of the ride either!
It was fun to see the area you walked through, as this is an area we have never been to in all our visits!
And guess what, we have never been in the regular line for the Simpsons. Since we only go to the parks when we stay there we always use their Express system. Maybe we SHOULD wait it out once ...... but we waited over 3 hours for the Back to the future ride in California during out first visit ..... and I do NOT want to repeat that experience (the wait .... not the ride, that was wonderful!)

I waited 3 hours for Back to the Future in Florida too. it was an awesome ride, but 3 hours is a long time in the hot July sun!

I would love to stay onsite someday. Express pass has a huge appeal to me.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Wow, I remember that ET ride so clearly and I've only been a couple of times - the last time being in 1999. That photobomb picture is so funny.

 

[englishrose47]

Stephanie was also a HUGE Barney Fan in fact we thought she would go to High School with a Barney Lunch boxOf course she grew out of it !!Kyle was into the TeleTubbies or Tubbie Tubbies as he called them !!We were ready to do foul things to them

 

[jenseib]

Wow, I remember that ET ride so clearly and I've only been a couple of times - the last time being in 1999. That photobomb picture is so funny.

The last time I was on it was 1999 too.

Stephanie was also a HUGE Barney Fan in fact we thought she would go to High School with a Barney Lunch boxOf course she grew out of it !!Kyle was into the TeleTubbies or Tubbie Tubbies as he called them !!We were ready to do foul things to them

Yuck on Teletubbies. LOL! Luckily Claire wasn't a huge fan of them, though she would watch them here and there.. They can drive one mad!

 

[Caretames1]

Apparently I really need to start watching 80's movies with Kadence. She had no clue who ET was. I love that movie!

Scooby and Shaggy, that's another story. She's thinking Claire should have met them, and it's not fair the line closed.
There is a van painted like the Mystery Machine in the next town over and it sits outside of a paint shop. It goes out in the local parades, Kadence wants me to take her picture with it every time we see it.

I think her dress is so cute, did she get lots of comments?



Barney? No way, No how! Not in my house, I couldn't stand him, so I never let them watch. Now the Wiggles, yeah, Kadence was addicted. I still sing Fruit Salad, and Big red Car

 

[englishrose47]

The last time I was on it was 1999 too.



Yuck on Teletubbies. LOL! Luckily Claire wasn't a huge fan of them, though she would watch them here and there.. They can drive one mad!

Much as I sickened of Barnie, nothing was as AWFUL as Tubbies !!!

 

[jenseib]

Apparently I really need to start watching 80's movies with Kadence. She had no clue who ET was. I love that movie!

Scooby and Shaggy, that's another story. She's thinking Claire should have met them, and it's not fair the line closed.
There is a van painted like the Mystery Machine in the next town over and it sits outside of a paint shop. It goes out in the local parades, Kadence wants me to take her picture with it every time we see it.

I think her dress is so cute, did she get lots of comments?



Barney? No way, No how! Not in my house, I couldn't stand him, so I never let them watch. Now the Wiggles, yeah, Kadence was addicted. I still sing Fruit Salad, and Big red Car

Claire was being very character shy this time around.
She did get compliments on her dress too. I think she was happy to have some special outfits. Her favorite of the trip is one she wears the next day...you might recognize it as a fellow Diser/friend made it.

I liked Barney. I knew ALL the songs from Michael and Paige...and picked right up with them with Claire.

Love the wiggles too.

Fruit salad...Yummy yummy! ....Great tune.

Much as I sickened of Barnie, nothing was as AWFUL as Tubbies !!!

At least Bareny spoke normal english and not baby talk.

 

[natebenma]

We rode ET right after seeing The Terminator show. My son Ben told them his name was Arnold!

Thanks for the trip down preschool tv memory lane.

We saw the Wiggles live in concert. Twice. Captain Feathersword rocks! Seriously. He did a couple of covers- one was a Rolling Stones song, can't remember the other and he was GOOD! Did you all see that a bunch of the Wiggles are being replaced, and one of the new ones is a GIRL?!?

Do any of you remember Bear in the Big Blue House?

Would you like me to post my US/IoA tips here? My top ten "Things?"

BTW- off thread, but I will be making my first trip to All Star Movies in one week. I'll try to take lots of photos to add to the photo thread you started.

 

[francis6306]

I worked HARD to not have Barney in our house! The "new" show I HATE is Yo Gabba Gabba. It is AWFUL! Seriously bad!

 

[Kelly in NY]

We rode ET right after seeing The Terminator show. My son Ben told them his name was Arnold!

Thanks for the trip down preschool tv memory lane.

We saw the Wiggles live in concert. Twice. Captain Feathersword rocks! Seriously. He did a couple of covers- one was a Rolling Stones song, can't remember the other and he was GOOD! Did you all see that a bunch of the Wiggles are being replaced, and one of the new ones is a GIRL?!?

Do any of you remember Bear in the Big Blue House?

Would you like me to post my US/IoA tips here? My top ten "Things?"

BTW- off thread, but I will be making my first trip to All Star Movies in one week. I'll try to take lots of photos to add to the photo thread you started.

I remember watching bear in the big blue house and Luna the moon! Loved the playhouse Disney show at DHS when he was in it LOL.

We are making our first trip to us/IOA and would be interested in your top Ted "things".

 

[petals]

Don't they tell you no pictures on ET? I love people like you that take pics anyway because I always want to but am always afraid to

awesome!!!!

I can do better than Hard Rock Cafe! We danced on the stage in Citywalk. We also danced at Kennedy Space Centre (and were the first ever Irish dancing school to do that!) but even better we danced in the MAGIC KINGDOM TWICE!!! The pics are on my facebook from the 2008 trip if ya wanna have a lookie.

How were the shows at US/IOA?

I've been to US/IOA a few times... We go to Animal Planet show in US and it's good kids would like it. Beetlejuice is good but loud! In IOA we went to Sinbad the last time we were there it was ok but I wouldn't be rushing back to it. The Hogsmeade mini shows are worth seeing once if you're into Harry Potter and the Suesslanding Christmas show and story-time shows are worth seeing as well. I'll have pics and more info on them all in my trip report eventually.

 

[jenseib]

We rode ET right after seeing The Terminator show. My son Ben told them his name was Arnold!

Thanks for the trip down preschool tv memory lane.

We saw the Wiggles live in concert. Twice. Captain Feathersword rocks! Seriously. He did a couple of covers- one was a Rolling Stones song, can't remember the other and he was GOOD! Did you all see that a bunch of the Wiggles are being replaced, and one of the new ones is a GIRL?!?

Do any of you remember Bear in the Big Blue House?

Would you like me to post my US/IoA tips here? My top ten "Things?"

BTW- off thread, but I will be making my first trip to All Star Movies in one week. I'll try to take lots of photos to add to the photo thread you started.

yes!!! you can post those. I actually copied that and had that along with us too.
Claire still likes bear in the big blue house. We have a couple of VHS's that she watches over and over. I guess he isn't for babies.
We have seen Sesame street live (3rd row baby!!) and some disney shows, but never the wiggles. I think she would've loved them though. They looked fun.
I did hear they were replacing them vaguely. But I don't remember the details...a girl doesn't work for me.

Great! I love when people post new pictures. I had a hard time finding very many when I was looking, so the first thing I did when I got home was start a thread.

I worked HARD to not have Barney in our house! The "new" show I HATE is Yo Gabba Gabba. It is AWFUL! Seriously bad!

Is that show still on? We had a phase with that too. I hated it, but Skip said he liked it, I think just to irritate me.

I remember watching bear in the big blue house and Luna the moon! Loved the playhouse Disney show at DHS when he was in it LOL.

We are making our first trip to us/IOA and would be interested in your top Ted "things".

We just missed the show at DHS. They had just changed over to the Minnie b-day party when we took Claire for her first time.

 

[natebenma]

And some assorted additional tidbits for Universal Newbies:

Places to check for discount tickets before you go: AAA, Undercover Tourist (Mousesavers), Costco, Theme park websites online (Sea World)

Bonine- we found this was a good, non drowsy way to combat motion sickness.

Transportation: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2494908

Ollivander's is the show, the Owl Post is the wand shop. You can access the Owl Post via Dervish & Banges, which can have a line to enter but according to posters on the DIS, they have never seen this line longer than a 10-minute wait.

Making the Most of Hogwarts Castle and Forbidden Journey:

Try to use the regular queue for Forbidden Journey at least once- you will see all of the parts of the castle that way. Early in the morning would be best for this.

Then you can use the Single Rider Line to ride Forbidden Journey quickly. If you have children, parents can "sandwich" them. Adult first, then kids, then another Adult, so someone will be waiting for them at the exit. I believe the entrance to the SRL is across from the locker entrance, but just ask a Team Member to direct you.

To explore the castle at your own pace, you can use the Castle Tour line. You see almost everything, but to see the Sorting Hat, you need to go in the regular Forbidden Journey line.

Beverages in Hogsmeade:

You won't find soda in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (per orders of J.K. Rowling)

There are some other interesting beverages though:

Butterbeer, of course. We prefer the frozen.

Pumpkin Juice, on draft or in a souvenir bottle. We prefer the draft.

We didn't try the apple or pear cider.

* Important Note: You can use your AAA card for a discount on drinks in the Hogs Head Inn or The 3 Broomsticks, but not at the carts. You will probably encounter a shorter wait at the Hogs Head than you will at the carts *



The above is my one page summary of info from my trip report "Welcome, Foolish Muggles!"

.

 

[jenseib]

Were the people saying that the wand "show" didn't have much of a line or just to buy a wand? I know the actual show has long lines all day from my research...and we waited quite a while ourselves and that was our first stop.

I forgot about no pop sold in WWoHP too. Skip even asked me about that when we were there, and I told him, it's buttebeer or nothing. LOL! Of course there are other options, but I knew he wouldn't be too keen on any of them. They did have some sort of apple juice with their breakfast. I wonder if that was the cider.

 

[jenseib]

Don't they tell you no pictures on ET? I love people like you that take pics anyway because I always want to but am always afraid to



I can do better than Hard Rock Cafe! We danced on the stage in Citywalk. We also danced at Kennedy Space Centre (and were the first ever Irish dancing school to do that!) but even better we danced in the MAGIC KINGDOM TWICE!!! The pics are on my facebook from the 2008 trip if ya wanna have a lookie.

.

I think that one said no flash photography. If course, it's so dark, it's hard to take any kind of picture there.
I think I did look at those facebook pictures once. I'll have to go back and look again

 

[jenseib]

When we got off the Simpsons I took some pictures of the area. It is just so cute.

We then decided we were ready to head back to the hotel for a nap and swim and then would return to the parks later.

We ran across this guy break dancing and stopped to watch for a minute or 2.

I spotted Lucy walking up ahead and tried to get a shot, but she was too fast for us.

And there is Scooby and Shaggy again…you can see Lucy too.

We all took a look in the Mystery Machine. It was basically all wood inside with a wooden bench. Skip asked me if it was wood in the cartoon, and I am pretty sure it was just a stripped out van and they sat on the ground…Does that sound right? I don’t remember it being luxurious, but not wood either.

We saw Marilynn walk by and she did a swirl for me…but I had the wrong settings on the camera and she was over exposed.

I did get a better one then.

And then we headed out. I stopped to get the Thing 2 Tank top and told Skip and Claire to keep going and I would catch up to them.

I like the tank, but it’s not as stretchy as I like them to be. It also runs very small. I got an XL, and it fits more like a tight large.

I took this picture of one of the resorts in the distance…and off the top of my head, I can’t remember which one.

I caught up to Skip and Claire and we worked our way to the car. My Mom called and I talked to her a bit. She was surprised we were heading for a nap. I told her that Skip was tired and sore……and I guess that was the wrong thing to say because he was mad. He said “now your Mom is going to call everyone and tell them that I can’t hang…my hip is NOT bothering me, it’s these shoes!”

Seriously, who cares? Why get mad over this. So he pouted and we left.
He needed to buy cigarettes and I wanted some food. We stopped at a liquor store to get cigarettes. Why there I have no clue, but that is where he pulled in at. Claire and I waited in the car.

He came back with a different kind as they didn’t have a selection…..go figure.

I told him that I wanted something to eat, so we could take him back to the hotel and I would go get something, but he said no, he would just run through a drive thru since he might want a snack….which turned out to be a full meal. LOL

We spotted a burger king right around the corner and got in line. We went to pay and the girl yelled at us for coming to the window. She told us to back up and pull forward. So we did. And then she said,” NO! stay back till I tell you to, Oh just pull around and we’ll bring out your food.”
STRANGE.
So we did and we waited…and waited…and waited.

I finally said I was going in to complain, and then we saw a guy come out with a bag of food, and sure enough it was ours. We asked what the heck was going on and he said that our car didn’t trigger something right and they have to serve people in a certain amount of time and then they get a bonus pizza party. We were messing up her record with the way we triggered it. Of course as we pulled away, I grumbled about messing up her record some more, what poor service they had, and how slow they were…along with some choice words…..and they gave me the wrong Pop, which is a HUGE pet peeve. I drink diet with no ice. I am VERY picky about this.. I got regular….GAG…and it was FULL of ice.

We headed back to the room, stuffed our faces, I complained about my pop and then got Claire ready for a nap. Skip had talked about going to the pirate show down the road, so I said I would walk to the lobby and get a flyer. He and Claire laid down, with Claire swearing she wasn’t tired, and would rather be swimming, to which I told her she couldn’t swim till she had really been truly asleep. I crept out into the hall and found Housekeeping. I told them they were napping, but grabbed some more towels and took them back to the room.
I went down and got the flyer and called my Mom again and told her about Mr. Grumpy. She laughed. I felt better venting and went back to the room to catch a nap myself.
Claire was snoring by the way…so I guess she was tired.

 

[dizneeat]

Oh Jen, did I mention before that I LOVE your photos!

You ran into a lot of characters that day.
How fun that Claire claimed she wasn't tired and then fast asleep while you were out.

Only thing ... NO Burger King for us. I have never tried it in the states, but it is horrible here. I'll have McDonald's instead any time!

 

[petals]

I love the ET pics

I think you're story from Burger King is kind of funny. I don't remember alot from our first trip in 1995 when I was ten but one of the things I do remember is we went to McDonalds alot to collect the Disney toys they had at the time.. I'll root them out and take a pic as they quite cool and we only missed one in the 3 weeks we were there at the time. But that's besides the point I remember in one McDonalds we went to we went up and my Daddy at the time listed off everything we wanted and when he was done the girl behnid the counter when HUUUUUHHHH??? And my Daddy went yes I would like it hot please

The other fast food places I would comment on on International drive would be Pizza Hut across from the two fingers that stick up in the sky you had a pic of those before.. We were there in 2010 and the grumpiest waitress ever there she was scary grumpy like and her treatment of one family who sat before she gave them permission was actually shocking. Last year different story she wasn't there and guy we got really helpful and nice.

Also there's a CiCi's pizza place near the Titanic Exhibition and while the food was nice the bathrooms were hidious to the point I would question what their kitchen's were like