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Posted

jenseib,

 

Just wanted to say I have looked through this and some of your other TRs here. You do outstanding work with both your photos and TRs. Very detailed and enjoyable. Keep up the good work!

 

I'm in my late 20s with no kids, so most wouldn't expect me to be all that interested in Disney. But your TRs are so excellent they make me interested and keep me reading.

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Posted
jenseib,

 

Just wanted to say I have looked through this and some of your other TRs here. You do outstanding work with both your photos and TRs. Very detailed and enjoyable. Keep up the good work!

 

I'm in my late 20s with no kids, so most wouldn't expect me to be all that interested in Disney. But your TRs are so excellent they make me interested and keep me reading.

 

 

Thanks so much for reading along. I do try to tell how I feel about each place I go. Disney is very magical to me, but Universal was also great fun and I loved taking pictures of it.

Posted

Thanks for all the pics....and still one year to go....

 

My priority will also be doing Harry Potter first and then all the coasters. I'll be going either end of February or end of April - hope this are good times crowdwise.

 

On Dr. Seuss land I think its a funny idea doing a monorail based on Mack Powered Coaster. And honestly: I also tend to fill up spare seats in rides when travelling alone as it shortens the waits - even if waittimes are short....

Posted
Thanks for all the pics....and still one year to go....

 

My priority will also be doing Harry Potter first and then all the coasters. I'll be going either end of February or end of April - hope this are good times crowdwise.

 

On Dr. Seuss land I think its a funny idea doing a monorail based on Mack Powered Coaster. And honestly: I also tend to fill up spare seats in rides when travelling alone as it shortens the waits - even if waittimes are short....

 

I think you have a good plan and a good time of year to go. I was actually pleasantly surprised though. It was busy, but it couldn've been worse. I actuall yexpected it to be. Of course WWoHP was crazy. That was beyond my expectations there with crowds.

Posted

We are now venturing into Jurassic Park. And the first scary thing we see!

 

 

The Coke Watering Hole. LOL

 

 

We did actually see some dinosaurs on the dinosaur tour though! (if you’ve seen the movie, you might get that line)

 

 

Claire was hesitant about standing near this Jeep, after all there was a T-Rex popping out behind it…but basically I forced her to do it.

 

 

On towards the Discovery Center.

 

 

 

I told Skip we were going in here……Why? What’s in there? Is there a ride?....

 

I just want to go in…OK?

 

I have to say this was a bit disappointing to me. I had read it looked very much like the one in the movie…but to me, it had similarities, but not the same.

 

 

I told Skip and Claire to stay at the top and I would run down and take their picture. And now that I think about it, I have no clue what was on the top floor. It must’ve not been too interesting if we didn’t browse it.

 

 

 

 

I must also mention that at this point I was getting hungry. I tend to get grumpy when I am hungry, but my goal was to eat at City Walk somewhere, so I wanted to get Jurassic Park off my list and then we planned to head out and eat…..but in the meantime, I was a little grouchy.

 

 

These dinosaurs would’ve met their match if they approached me when I was hungry.

 

Notice this guys name is Beasaur….I think that is because you would BE sore if you got bit by him.

 

 

This area was cute with a couple of dinosaurs set up.

 

 

 

They had these little devices that you could look through and tilt the heads back and forth or up and down. I think only this guys device actually worked. We tried the other two and saw nothing and could barely get the head to move at all.

 

 

 

 

 

There was also an area with interactive things to do. Like picking out an egg and then it would do some sort of ultrasound and you could see what type of dinosaur was in there. Sadly this area was crowded and I didn’t have the patience to wait long. We watched one girl do it and the device didn’t work. We watched another person do it and again it wasn’t working properly, so we gave up.

 

 

Claire really wanted to play with this stuff and looking back, I really feel bad we didn’t spend much time there. I said we would come back and we never did make it. I rushed us around because of the rumbly in my tumbly.

I took a couple more pictures of the area behind the glass where the “Dr.’s” were working.

 

 

 

And then we headed out the back entrance there.

 

 

We took in the views across the lake.

 

 

 

We then made our way up a hill around the building to get back to the front.

 

 

Another Jeep………which Claire again refused to stand by.

 

 

 

Hey look! There’s Hogwarts again.

 

 

We moved on and I took a few pictures. We were looking for the River Adventure.

 

 

And we found it, but to our disappointment the line was about an hour long. At this point Claire said she would NOT be riding that ride at all. I never did find out if they had a single riders line, but if they had, we probably would’ve done it that way later on. Claire had watched the Youtube video before going and remarked about how fake everything was. But NOW she was telling Skip that this ride has dinosaurs that pop out at you and it’s really scary. LOL. With the line being so long, my hungry tummy, the extremely hot weather, and Claire’s desire NOT to ride it, we skipped it.

This is one ride I regret never getting to ride.

 

And once again, we started walking and taking pictures.

 

 

We found the Pteranodon Riders and Camp Jurassic. The Riders had a 50 minute wait…no thanks (and you must have a child with you to be able to ride it as an adult), and I wasn’t about to spend time in a playground…no matter how neat it might be.

 

 

Off we go! My mission now is food.

 

 

 

As we entered Toon Lagoon, Skip suggested we just stop and get a quick service something or other.

The dino in me roared! “NO! I want something REAL, like nachos, and I want to sit out of the sun!”

 

 

He didn’t ask that question again……

 

We stopped and watched this for a few minutes. Claire loved it.

 

 

I thought this area was very colorful as well and I did keep taking pictures, but the sun was really shining hard, so half the time I just clicked and hoped I got something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was starting to do a little whining herself. She wanted to get wet. We came upon this…..Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rats Barges.

 

 

They decided to take the plunge. I declined and went and sat down. As soon as I did, I realized that Skip still had the backsack and it would probably come back soaking wet, along with his phone. Oh Well, I couldn’t see them and I knew they weren’t about to get back out of line.

 

I took a quick sit down and took a few pictures of the Olive (a water play area).

 

 

 

That got boring quickly, so I went off to take some pictures elsewhere.

 

This is not my family, but this is the ride they were on.

 

 

 

 

I took quite a few pictures of this area, but sadly never went into any of the buildings. I would like to explore here a little more in the future as well.

 

 

 

 

It was like walking right through the Sunday Papers Comic section.

Posted

Weird...I was just rereading what I posted. I write it in word and copy and paste....and this board is autocorrecting some of my words. I went in to change it and they are the way I wrote them, hit submit and then again...it's changed.....Like the word j e e p is being posted as GP????? I wonder why?

Posted

but the sun was really shining hard, so half the time I just clicked and hoped I got something

 

Know that as the sun now here in northern europe is still quite low and with sunglasses you can forget to see something on camera displays. I mostly try to take pictures with three different programs that mostly deliver good results and choose the best picture on the PC back home....

Posted
but the sun was really shining hard, so half the time I just clicked and hoped I got something

 

Know that as the sun now here in northern europe is still quite low and with sunglasses you can forget to see something on camera displays. I mostly try to take pictures with three different programs that mostly deliver good results and choose the best picture on the PC back home....

 

I usually shoot in manual mode myself. But I couldn't really see through the view finder and of course the way the sun hits makes for you to need to readjust. I have several pics that are the same too. I just kept retaking and hoping.

Posted

I continued my walk around Toon Lagoon while I waited for my soon to be drench rats.

 

 

This is another area that is very stimulating on the eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was worried about being late back to find Skip and Claire, so I never went inside any of these places. I wish I would’ve though. But hunger was also calling my name, so I basically just did a quick walk and snapped away.

 

 

 

Yes we are!!!

 

 

I went back to the Popeye area and Skip and Claire were just getting off….and they were wet!

 

Claire was very excited about how wet she was too. She was soaked right through and even the shorts she had on under her skirt were soaked.

 

 

Skip told me that they had a spot to put the bag in and it was completely dry. Thank goodness for that. I was worried his phone would be no good…and he has an old phone as it is, so I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for it to die.

 

After Claire told me all about her exciting wet ride, we proceeded on. Our mission now was lunch! I couldn’t wait any longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not sure why that person has an umbrella. No rain in site…I’m guessing she was shading the sun?

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked we discussed dining options. I was impressed when Skip mentioned there was a NASCAR restaurant…that meant he really read and paid attention to my tip sheet! I told him it didn’t matter, that was a good choice, or Bubba Gumps…which proceeded into a conversation of Does it have seafood? Does it have anything else?...or Margaretville as another option.

 

 

 

Even on the fly and starving to death, I thought to get a picture of the rental building. LOL

 

 

Bye Bye IoA!!!

 

 

Food here we come!!!

Posted

I forgot to mention that we did look at the wait for Spiderman as we walked by. It was 50 minutes. We passed on that. Maybe we could check it out later.

 

We are now off in search of lunch.

The first place we came across was Jimmy Buffets Margaretville.

 

 

Skip said to take a look and see if it had a wait.

 

Nope there was no wait at all. They asked if we wanted inside or out. I asked how cold it was inside. I surely didn’t want my wet little Claire complaining through the meal about how cold she was. Skip said let’s just go outside. It was a great decision. It was nice there. There was a breeze and they had fans blowing and it was the perfect temperature.

 

 

We debated on what to eat. I asked Skip if he wanted to share the nachos and he said yes. My thinking was we could get dessert then too! Skip said he was going to get a turkey club as well. I told him that I was pretty sure the nachos were big and he wouldn’t need a sandwich, but he didn’t believe me. He said he didn’t want to get stuck with 12 nachos to share. Ok then, I won’t argue.

 

We had an excellent server and we made our order. I told him I was just sharing the nachos and he said OK, but I almost felt like he thought I wouldn’t have enough to eat….but I swear I had seen pictures of here before and the nachos were fairly big.

 

Claire colored while we waited.

 

 

She did complain a bit about being wet. I had a change of clothes for her in the car, but she was wet right down to the underwear and I didn’t have an extra pair of those with me…..I knew I should’ve as in years past we have had to change her right down to the underwear. Oh well. She said she was fine, but she did grumble.

 

Soon the nachos arrive….Let’s just say I told you so!

 

 

 

I think Skip’s jaw fell off.

They were huge and good. We did notice later though, that the table next to us just had a big bowl of guacamole and chips and we kind of wish we had just went with that option. Claire loves guacamole…or as she calls it “morraca~ole” and she would’ve eaten more that way. And I think I would’ve too as after a bit, the bottom layer got soggy. But it was still good!

 

Not long after the nachos arrived we also got this!

 

 

I ended up eating half of Skips sandwich too. It was to die for. I’m not usually a club kind of person, but this one was REALLY good.

 

Claire got her usual…chicken strips and she ate almost everything, with the exception of a few fries. She was a hungry girl too. And she had only had a small donut for breakfast and then half a churro later on.

 

 

It was nice and relaxing. I had a water and it never tasted so good. I had a headache from the heat and hunger, so I did take a couple of ibuprofen and they were working their magic as well. Skip did tell me I looked awful and red….Can you feel the love?...….he said not sunburn, just red from heat…and I told him I felt awful too. The rest and food was exactly what I needed.

 

 

Perry had to help finish off the nachos though!

 

 

Claire and I headed off to the bathroom and I didn’t think to leave my AAA card with Skip. So we did miss out on the 10% off there, as he paid while we were in there. I took off Claire’s shorts she had on under the skirt and she felt a little better with that. We also put her skirt under the hand dryer and tried to dry her up a little better.

 

The waiter gave me a plastic bag and we threw her shorts in there (they were red and we didn’t want them dying anything they touched) and then we put the bag in the famous backsack.

 

With bellies now full and feeling much better, we headed off to Universal Studios park!

 

 

 

 

Skip was starting to complain about his feet and shins hurting too. I have had this before, and I knew how awful it was, so I showed him some stretches to do to help relieve the pain. We just walked slowly over to the park.

 

 

 

 

I love palm trees!

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve made it!

 

 

 

This area looked very slow…..I was hoping that was a good sign.

 

 

 

 

Getting through the gates at Universal was painless and easy. It looked fairly empty too. We walked up the street and tried to decide what to do.

 

 

 

We decided that Shrek would be first.

 

 

The line wasn’t too long; we got in the next show.

 

I took a couple of shots as we waited.

 

 

I loved these posters.

 

 

 

The show was cute. Be aware that some of the shows…this one included, has a little adult humor in them. It isn’t awful and flies by most kids head, but I picked up stuff that was kind of funny, if you knew what it meant.

I also think that Universal does 3-D better than Disney does.

 

If you have been to Universal years ago, this show is located where the old Alfred Hitchcock show used to be.

 

After the show, we walked out through the gift shop and Claire spotted a very cute Puss n Boots. She said she may want to get him later on.

We saw Shrek, Fiona and Donkey out for a meet and greet, but Claire refused to go see them.

 

 

Skip and Claire decided they were thirsty and got in line for a drink while I headed off to the bathrooms.

 

 

Skip bought one of those refillable mugs. I think it cost 89 cents to refill it and it said it was good for only that day. We never tried it the next day, so I’m not sure how strict they are with this. I personally didn’t think this was a good deal, but Skip did so he got one. And then he got a drink that I don’t care for, so I only sipped on it a few times to quench my thirst.

 

We headed off, just roaming randomly.

 

 

 

 

Someone called Skip so we stopped while he talked…and look what I found! Something I had hoped to see! YAY!!

 

 

I was actually surprised to find it here, as I thought it would be close to where the ride used to be.

 

 

 

 

Skip kept chatting away and Claire and I checked out the car. Claire really has no clue about this movie. I have it on DVD, but I don’t think she has actually ever seen it. And she didn’t think this looked like a very fancy car. Back in the 80’s though, this was the “BOMB!” Who didn’t want a Delorean after seeing that first movie?

 

 

I have actually seen the Delorean before. Supposedly one used in the movies. Years ago we would have a custom rod auto show in our area once a year. We knew the guy who put it on, so I would work it each year. My Dad and I would go to the airports and pick up the stars and transport them back and forth from the hotels and I would take/sell pictures as well. One year my job was to take pictures of people sitting in the Delorean…of course I got one too. It’s a Polaroid though and I’m sure I don’t have it scanned.

 

 

Did you see Skip in that last picture? He’s carrying the famous bag around his neck. LOL

 

Agent P thought this would be the perfect spy car.

 

 

We continued on. I don’t think we had a definite plan of where to go though.

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t like how the tracks came out here. It ruins the theming.

 

Posted

We kept moving along, just taking it in.

 

 

We came upon the mummy and we decided we wanted to do it…well “we” meaning Skip and I.

 

 

I figured this would be too intense for Claire so Skip headed off in the single riders line and Claire and I just roamed the immediate area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used the restroom and waited under an awning they had near here.

 

 

 

At some point in time Claire had asked me why no one had ever told her about Universal. I thought that was so funny……… Like we had been hiding this place from her for all these years. She really liked this place!

 

 

Soon Skip called and said he was out and we met up with him and I took a turn on the Mummy.

Again, this ride is just really cool, very different than Disney rides. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but it would stop here and there and show Mummy scenes. I loved it….BUT Claire would’ve hated it. It would’ve been too intense of a ride for her and too scary as well.

 

Skip and Claire were still sitting under the awning when I got off and we took off to find the Simpsons. Of course I took more pictures on the way.

 

I don’t know who this statue is, but he had a bird on his head with bird poo dripping down….poor guy.

 

 

Here is Richters burgers…the place I had been told was NOT very good. Skip said he was going to go and eat there, but he didn’t of course….

 

 

This bird was walking along with us and when I turned to take his picture he turned away, like he was pretending he wasn’t really walking with us.

 

 

 

 

We checked out Disaster, but the line was pretty long at this point. The last time I rode it, it was called Earthquake. It was pretty cool, one of the rides I clearly remember liking from previous trips.

 

 

 

Wait? Are we in Disney?

 

 

 

This area is where Jaws used to be. You could hear the construction going on behind the walls. This is a really bad picture, but they had people blowing bubbles in the walkway and they were just having a great time. Skip said that would be a great job to have.

 

 

They did leave the shark up!

 

 

Claire wasn’t too impressed with him, so we didn’t stop to get a picture there.

 

On the other hand…when I took Paige and Michael many years ago, they had no fear of the shark what’s so ever…they even got a little cozy with him.

 

 

We passed Fear Factor…ICK. I hate this TV show, and was disappointed to hear they brought it back.

 

 

 

And there it is…..The Simpsons….

 

 

But wait! There’s Men in Black too. Let’s hit that one first.

 

 

We had to put our bags in a locker for this one. Again the process is fairly easy, but crowded. You have to use a computer screen to get your locker. I found that if you use your fingernail rather than you actual fingertip, the touch screen responds better. I did have to wait in a line to get to the screen, each locker section has one, and when you return, you have to go back to that screen to get your locker open. You need to remember your locker number and they also do a finger scan.

 

We got in line, which wasn’t too long, I think maybe a 40 minute wait was posted, but the time went much faster. I am guessing we waited 20-30 minutes. A lot of it was walk through. They had some really cute queue areas. It was like you were really walking through the MIB agency.

 

We joked a bit while waiting too. Early that morning while waiting for the wand show, there was a guy, an older lady and a couple of teen girls in front of us in line. We assumed that the lady was probably the Mother in law. They started talking about men and Black and the MIL had never seen the movies. The guy proceeded to tell her about it….in every detail possible. He started at the very beginning of the movie and gave her every scene…play by play. Skip was laughing and joking about it while we were behind him, and it was hard not to laugh. I could see the MIL’s eyes glaze over at one point. A little later a TM had come over and said that if people needed to use the restroom, they could get out of line as long as one person in the party stayed……the WHOLE family went, except for the guy. Skip found that hilarious. He figured they were happy to escape and was guessing they would never come back. They did, but just as the guy reached the front of the line, LOL!

 

So while waiting in the MIB line, we joked a bit, and pretended like we were giving each other a play by play of the movies, making up stuff of course!

 

I got some tips on this ride as well. First off I was told to hold my gun button down the whole time and it would score. (This ride is kind of like Buzz lightyear, where you shot at things for a score). I did this and scored a big fat zero. Now I haven’t relooked at my tip sheet, but maybe I had remembered wrong? But this didn’t work for me and I swore I had a faulty gun.

Then at one point you are told to hit a red button. Hit this button as soon as you hear him say it and keep holding it…and you will score big…this DID work for me. I hit it before the other 2 and I got the big score and took the lead and won….but only because I got mega points from the red button. Claire was mad because she didn’t even hear him say to hit it, so I told her next time I would help her. Skip only tapped his. I think only one person per car is awarded those points, so be quick to hit it…and blow your family away!

 

After MIB, I ran back out to get our bag and had to wait in line for the computer so I could get the locker open. I had like 5 people in front of me, and then they all walked away…seriously, why does a group of 5 all have to stand in the crowded locker area AND all stare at the screen. It’s much easier if you send 1 (or in my case 2 because Claire is nosey) to the locker and just get in and out as fast as you can.

 

We made another pit stop at the bathrooms near there and walked over to the Simpsons.

 

 

 

I think it was posted as a 20 minute wait and we hopped right in line.

Look how tired someone is.

 

 

 

 

Another photobomb! And a very unflattering picture of me. I guess all those nachos puffed my tummy out, because it does NOT look like that…I swear!

 

 

Skip loved this queue because they play Simpson cartoons. It prepares you a bit for the theme of the ride. It shows different clips and commercials that relate to the ride and just general Simpson characters. There is also a part that pays tribute to the Back to the Future Ride. I shows how Doc got some loan to keep the building and a Simpsons character comes back in time to help Doc save it, but runs over the loan officer, so now Doc has to sell the building to Krusty. …(for those who don’t know, the outside queue has television screens all throughout the line and fans blowing as well)

I was happy to see that….as I said before, Back to the Future is one of my all-time favorite rides and movies.

 

Claire had watched the Youtube video over and over at home and talked how “this” was the ride she wanted to ride, but once we got there she was scared. She thought we would be taking big drops and we reassured her it would be fine, but she was EXTREMELY nervous through the whole queue. She never believes me when I tell her things will be fine, and she didn’t believe Skip because he never even watched the video or been on the old ride before.

 

Before we knew it we were walking into the prep room.

 

 

 

They had several screens around the room and each screen would take turns talking, some about the ride, some more like a commercial. Skip laughed so hard and watched Apu. He would just sit there and wait till it was his screens turn to talk, but he would blink and just kind of look around. Skip found this hilarious.

 

 

 

 

 

After this little show we were led into our preboarding rooms where it gave you a bit more of the story on a video screen.

 

 

It told you how Homer’s family won a chance to be the first to ride this crappy roller-coaster at Krustyland…Basically he was set up by Side-show Bob, who wants to kill the family.

 

Now I have a question before I go on for anyone who is a Universal expert. I read online that Back to the Future had two rooms with screens, one in front and one in back. I have rode Back to the Future two or 3 times and this trip we rode the Simpsons 3 times….I have never gone to the back of the building for a ride. I have gone to the upper level and the lower level, but always at the front of the building. Is it true there is a 2nd screen somewhere?

 

This is what it says on Wikipedia….”The buildings for Florida and California had completely different layouts. In Florida the two arenas were back to back. Designers found that this led to some operational problems so the California building was designed so that the arenas were on opposite ends of the building with the queue and pre-show in between them.”

 

Ok….. Back to our regularly scheduled Trip Report….

We entered the next room and got in our car, which is supposed to be like a roller-coaster car. You can set your bag off to the side on the floor. We were in the front seat this time around.

 

We were soon lifted up and enjoyed the ride. For those who don’t know, it’s kind of like Soarin’…in a way….. It’s a HUGE screen, bigger than Soarin’, and it has the feeling that you are actually riding what you see, but it’s a simulator. There are several other cars loaded (2 levels of them in fact) and viewing the same screen, but unless you are looking, you wouldn’t even realize it. You feel like you have this place all to your own.

 

This ride is AWESOME! It has a few scents floating around at appropriate times and it is great fun. I do caution that you may get motion sickness. I tend to and could feel it. I actually took a bonine pill while waiting in line to help ward off the sickness. I also found after riding it 3 times over the course of our trip that sitting in the front seats made me less queasy than sitting in the back. Skip even mentioned that sitting in the back seat made him a little queasy too and he never has motion problems.

Now don’t be scared off…Do ride this, but take the precautions prior to riding. I would suggest to actually take bonine earlier in the day.

 

We got off all smiles and Claire and Skip both declared this the best ride EVER!!!!! Claire said she was nervous for nothing and just loved the ride. Skip was amazed at how we felt like we were actually doing what we saw, yet were just in a car that was moving us around.

 

There is a part at the end of the ride where they say that this is the part you get your picture taken and a flash goes off. I wasn’t sure if they actually took your picture or if it was part of the story, but I have read online after I got home that they do take your picture….where this is displayed at, I never found.

 

We made a stop off after the ride for Claire to take a phone call.

 

 

The phone has someone talking, but I’m not sure what it said, but Claire was making faces.

 

 

We wandered over here to look at the fence.

 

 

I tried to get Claire to lean up against the fence and pretend she was in trouble too, but she refused. She did however pretend to be helping Bart use the spray can.

 

 

We then took another sit down break and Skip went off and refilled the mug.

 

 

 

I got up to join him after he came back and someone yelled at me to get my attention. They let me know I left my bag…..the bag that Skip was in charge of! Thanks goodness the kind person let me know, and I let him know my husband was supposed to be carrying that bag and if he had not said anything, it would’ve been left there for sure!

Posted

I love the Simpsons ride. Went on the one in Hollywood, it's really fun and the characters in the queue line when it's not their turn to talk just kind of sit there and look around, its so hilarious! Universal did a great job on this ride- fantastic!

Posted

Great pics as always...and that Nacho dish is insane...no wonder we cant eat up on you no matter how much Bratwurstle, Sauerkraut and Beer we put into ourselves....

Posted
I love the Simpsons ride. Went on the one in Hollywood, it's really fun and the characters in the queue line when it's not their turn to talk just kind of sit there and look around, its so hilarious! Universal did a great job on this ride- fantastic!

 

We really loved the ride and the theming. Skip found that so hilarious too.

Posted
Great pics as always...and that Nacho dish is insane...no wonder we cant eat up on you no matter how much Bratwurstle, Sauerkraut and Beer we put into ourselves....

 

We do have some huge portions, don't we, but this was beyond huge.

Posted

We did some leisurely strolling. Skip’s feet and legs were killing him. I really noticed him hobbling around. I assumed it was his hip, but he swears it was his feet that bothered him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t take a picture of (why I didn’t, I don’t know) but there were some fencing up around the lake area over here and it said it was a hot set. Nothing was going on, so we “think” they were taking stuff down from something earlier. We did see guys out in the lake on a boat though too.

 

 

Skip asked if there was a fireworks show going on later, and we were told no, which I was sure I had read wasn’t happening, but you never know. Someone did say they have something in the summer, and I know I have read TRs that showed pictures of it.

 

I think down this street is where the Nickelodeon studios used to be. I know we toured it a couple of times and Paige once went with her Dads family and got to do some sort of shout out on one of the shows she watched being taped. They gave them the day it would air and then we recorded it. I don’t know if we still have it on tape anywhere or not. LOL

 

 

 

 

We stopped and rested for a while and watched the guys in the boat and I kept taking pictures.

 

 

 

 

We headed over to Disaster. That was one thing I wanted to do before we left for the day, and Claire wanted to give it a try too.

 

It’s right by the famous Richter’s Burgers and we joked about it once again.

 

 

I laughed when we got in line because so many people asked what this was. The TM would say it’s an attraction that is a show and ride…and people look at him like he’s crazy. …..There are these youtube videos where they have these cartoon people being CM’s and the people ask what it is, and that’s the response they get…and it escalates to a frustrated CM. They are so dumb, but funny too, and this made me think of it immediately.

 

Here is one of those videos, it’s not the one I was thinking of, but it still is funny.

 

 

And this one is funny too.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iuAyQec-_M&feature=related

 

We waited in line and Skip kept asking me what this was like. I told him it was called Earthquake last time I rode it and it appeared to look a bit different on the outside, so I wasn’t sure how similar it would be.

 

 

 

 

We had a buddy hanging with us too.

 

 

 

We had a little wait, but soon we were headed into the first room. This has changed from when I saw it last (as Earthquake). I don’t remember it exactly, but I know it was different before. We had a girl who was casting people for a new movie and it was fun. She picked some people to be part of the “show” and she was pretty funny and the guys she picked were funny too. Claire just loved this…Skip didn’t care for it so much.

 

Next we went into the next room and the actors did there “thing” and it was taped. Again, I thought it was fun and funny. We were introduced to the owner of the studios and it was Christopher Walken….as a holograph. To me this was SO amazing. He looked so real and no flickering at all. He interacted with things and I really don’t think Claire even knew that it wasn’t a real person up there.

I was impressed.

I think we went to the ride vehicle next. This was pretty much the same ride (though I heard they did change it up for safety reasons because someone had gotten hurt (or killed?) several years ago when it was Earthquake.

This time though, we are all part of the movie and the ride is part of the show…years ago, I do believe that we went on a subway ride and then “all of a sudden” there was an earthquake.

This time was corny and we had to all pretend to be frightened.

Claire loved it, Skip still wasn’t impressed ,but did like the ride portion a bit more.

 

On the way back to the station they play the movie they have just made. It’s pretty funny, and we laughed at the corny movie they made which also stared the “Rock” as the main character. They combined the guest actors in shots with him and it was so silly.

 

When we got off, Claire declared that this might be her new favorite ride, or at least tied with the Simpsons. Skip said he hoped not to ever go back on it. LOL!

Posted
"Oh my god, you are still here."

 

That video so so funny!

 

I love those videos. Some of them are exactly things you can just see the CM's thinking....and some are really what people do.

Posted

After we left Disaster we decided it was time to work our way back to the front and head out. Claire said she had seen something in the Shrek gift shop and she wanted to use her money to buy it. We walked slowly and even took a small break and just enjoyed the views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took these for Brook. She lives in NYC and there is a Starbucks on every corner practically.

 

 

 

We would watch this ride every so often…and there is NO WAY any of us would ever get on it. The 2 adults have lost all their spunk, and the little one is just smart.

 

 

 

We made our way into the gift shop.

 

 

And Claire went straight to him.

 

 

He was cute…but another plushy…oh well….

 

We did get 10% off with our AAA card.

 

 

And here are the princess dresses I had mentioned earlier.

 

 

And out we went, and I still had that camera clicking.

 

 

 

 

 

They are still working on the new Despicable Me ride.

 

 

 

 

 

Not a good picture, but here is the locker area.

 

 

I stopped in here and took a quick look around. They had the thing 2 tank top and I debated on getting it, but I decided to wait again and see if anything else caught my fancy first.

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

We headed out of the park and made our way to the parking garage. It’s funny how Skip and Claire now were walking fairly fast, but I was lagging behind this time around. ….. Mostly due to taking pictures though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was really cute and hadn’t noticed it when we arrived that morning. It’s a mini golf course.

 

 

 

This is where we found that people were using the people mover walkways as a ride. (Skip did too at this point) It drives me bonkers. I don’t mind if you ride, but move to one side so people can pass you. Claire and I kept walking and said excuse me a zillion times as we walked. People would look at us like we were the nutty ones.

 

 

This is in the middle area where you chose which way to go to your parking garage. It’s a little gift stand and has a Jurassic park theme. I remember this from the last time we visited.

 

 

We made it back to the car. Skip was really sore and a bit grumpy now. We also had to fight with the car door to get it to unlock. I was so annoyed at the car. Why can’t it just unlock like a normal car.

 

We drove back and traffic was literally bumper to bumper near our hotel. Not sure what was going on, but we ended up going a long way around to it so we could turn at a light, as just making a left hand turn with no light was never going to happen. It still didn’t take us too long to get back.

 

Claire and Skip headed down to the pool. It was around 8 PM now. I took a shower.

 

If you have read my past TR’s, you might have noticed my hair is a little shorter this time around. I cut it last fall fairly short for me. I wanted to get off old perm and drippy ends and wanted a change. It was cute, but after a month, I no longer liked it. I am a ponytail kind of girl and I like to just throw my hair in one daily and not mess with it. Not happening with short hair. So I have been letting it grow out. And it’s going so slowly. I also can’t just wash and fluff dry and have it look decent either. It’s still got some old perm on the ends and it just looks awful in general. So if I go in public, I have to straighten it to make it look halfway decent. This takes time of course.

 

So while they swam, I took my shower and did the straightening of the hair process again. I put on a sundress and felt clean and fresh and ready to do something.

 

Skip and Claire came back up and Claire declared it was the best pool ever because it had a hot tub too. (She says this about every pool we go to)

 

I asked Claire if she wanted to take a shower and she said no, she just swam so she is clean. LOL! Ok, we are on vacation, let’s let it go for today. We got her dressed and her hair combed and dried, and told Skip we wanted to go to Beaches and Cream for icecream. He grumbled a bit about not being hungry, and I told him we would go without him then…..well he got moving then.

 

He did say he better not have to walk a lot because he was so sore and tired from me dragging him around for 17 hours straight…a “bit” of an exaggeration there.

 

We got directions from the front desk on how to get the expressway to Disney area and once again fought with the door locks on the car, then took off.

 

It didn’t take too long to get there. We pulled up to the Yacht Clubs parking gate and we were told there was a hard close, so we couldn’t park. I guess that means they have too many people there right now and only guest resorts or those with ADR’s could park there. I asked about the Beach Club lot and he told me it was the same. UGH! He did say go over to the Boardwalk and we would be able to park there. OK. But I knew the “walking” would be longer, but I didn’t mention that to Skip.

 

We were able to park at the Boardwalk, and wow, what a walk that was JUST to get to the resort. Us lowly people who are not staying onsite have to park really far out.

I just kept my spirits up and ignored the complainers in my family. I really don’t think Claire cared at all, but since Skip grumbled, she thought she should as well.

 

My BW pictures aren’t very good because I was on the move and it was dark.

 

 

 

 

 

We made it out to the boardwalk, and some entertainment was just finishing up. It looked like it was good, because it had quite a crowd dispersing at the moment.

 

I tried to figure which way around the lake would be faster, but honestly, I don’t think either is, so we headed in the direction of the YC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We kept walking the Boardwalk, trying to make our way to B&C. I didn’t want to rush and make Skip hurt more, so we strolled at a leisurely pace, but I had to hold myself back from walking faster……after all there was an ice-cream sundae with my name on it….just waiting for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked by the Yacht Club I pointed out the room that Brook and I stayed in last Aug. Skip was like “What? Why did you stay here?” Almost like he was accusing me of staying at a nice place without his knowledge. Um…I had told him over and over where I had stayed…..he just doesn’t listen. And this is where we HAD to stay, it was part of the program, we didn’t choose our resort.

 

As we passed Storm Along Bay I took a few dark pictures. They were doing some construction and parts of it were shut down.

 

 

 

Soon we reach B&C and we went up to ask about the wait….30 minutes. UGH! Of course, I have grumpy along and now he has to wait. I said fine, but the guy offered that we go in the “to go” part, which Skip promptly said yes and the same time I said no. I told the guy I wanted a No Way Jose, and he then agreed, yes we would have to wait for that one.

We grabbed a buzzer and Claire panicked. She was starving and could not possibly wait any longer for food. So I told them to sit with the buzzer and I would head to the market place and get her a pizza.

I walked fast, but I had forgotten just how far away the Market Place was. I ordered her a kids pepperoni pizza and waited. Soon it was done and I got in line to pay. The gal told me this was a kids pizza and I had to get 2 sides and a drink. I told her I didn’t want that, just to charge me for the pizza. Couldn’t be done, it was the same price either way. So I told her what I would get as sides and a drink and paid and headed back to the refrigerator area and pulled out a pack of grapes, a cookie and a milk and off I went to find my gang…..only they were not where I left them.

I took a peek inside of B&C and sure enough they were seated at the counter…in the same exact seats that Patty and I had sat in last summer. We even had the same waitress.

Skip said he ordered. I was amazed that he even remembered what I wanted, but I did catch the waitress’s attention and let her know I wanted my No Way Jose with only vanilla ice-cream.

 

Claire started in on her pizza while we waited.

 

 

Skip and I nibbled at it too. I actually think Skip ate half of it. (Remember he wasn’t even hungry) We saved the sides and took them back to our hotel with us and nibbled on those for a snack when hungry later on.

 

Soon “heaven on Earth” was brought out.

 

 

Claire and I shared it and Skip got a strawberry milkshake. It was very large and they even gave him the mixer cup to refill his glass. He said it was very good. I did not take a picture of it though, as I was too busy admiring my treat.

 

I took this picture and posted it on facebook and had the caption “Where am I?”

 

 

Several people responded, and most were right, or close, but I got some off the wall answers too.

 

 

Claire and I dug in and oohed and ahhed and mmm’d. She agreed that this was absolutely wonderful.

 

I am proud to say that in August I ate every last drop by myself. This time Claire fizzled out early and I got to the point that I just couldn’t eat the last few bites. I hated not finishing it, but I was about to explode.

 

 

We paid and headed out. Skip decided we would walk the other way back to the Boardwalk because it looked closer to him. I really don’t think it is, but I didn’t care which way we walked. Everyone was in a better mood now.

 

 

I took a few more pics of the Boardwalk area once again.

 

 

 

 

Have you ever eaten at the “Lyin Ish?” LOL

 

 

We decided we should have a potty break before heading out.

 

 

 

I must say the lobby reminded me a lot of the Yacht and Beach Club Lobbies.

 

 

I didn’t see a restroom sign jumping out at me, so we asked a CM and he directed us in the right direction.

 

 

It was very similar to some of the bathrooms at the Yacht Club too.

 

I was taking too long with pictures, so Claire ran ahead and joined up with Skip.

 

 

I really think this place looks beautiful…another one to add to my list of places to stay.

 

 

I found them here.

 

 

And we headed out to the parking lot and into our car. We made the drive back to Quality Inn and I think a little someone had dozed off in the back seat while we drove…..though she would never admit it.

 

We were all tired at this point and got ready for bed.

 

 

We watched a little bit of TV and I checked out facebook on my kindle and before we knew it, we all drifted off to dreamland.

 

And that is the end of Day 2! 2 1/2 more full days left!

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