Multiple Bucket List items checked off - Dim Sum style: bert goes to China with TPR! (a photo trip report with lots of cities, lots of hotels, lots of parks, and lots and lots of food!)

[bert425]

so. . . one of the reasons I love TPR (and there are many, among them the great friends I've made over the years with other posters/trip goers) is that via Robb & Elissa, I'm able to do things I never thought in a million years I would get to do.

this trip to China was one of them.     I'm serious when I say that this trip knocked out several things from my bucket list, including my #1 (getting to visit all currently existing Disney Parks in the world).

I'd looked forwards to this trip for almost a full year, and now that it was upon me I had a bit of panic (the Government had shut down and what would that do to travel?), and a lot of excitement.   Elissa and Robb were invaluable assets in terms of knowing what to apply for Visa wise, what apps to set up, how much local $$ to bring, what VPN to get, what eSim, etc. etc.  

add to this, my Boyfriend was fully moving in with me, 2 days after I left for the trip - after spending the better part of the prior year and a half traveling back and forth an hour 40 minutes each way to stay with me every few days.   and I'd be gone for almost a month, while he was alone in the house.   

But I valued so much that I was invited to join, and overall, wouldn't trade the experience for anything!    

the first installment here is getting to China, so not a lot of pics of things other than myself and plane food.  but we'll quickly get into many amazing things in upcoming installments. 

*and I'm even gonna go back and finish off my Oktoberfest report from last year. . . whoops!  life got in the way, but gonna finish that, as that TPR trip was amazing as well.

anyways. . here we go, off to the races

 

up at 3am, and Jim and I took a pic before he drove me the 40 minutes to the Austin airport, before he headed back to Waco - as he had to work that morning.

 

I always tend to fly United for international flights, because for me?  they are the best of the worst.   They ALWAYS mess something up, be it delayed/cancelled flights stranding me somewhere, lost luggage, a missed connection. . . something!   
(that said, this trip?  first time, EVER, no luggage lost, and no flight cancelled that left me stranded somewhere.. even tho there was a bit of drama, as you'll see).

the bonus is that because I've always had issues, I have a ton of credit and goodwill from the Company, so when they offered to upgrade me to Polaris Business class (after some flight f**kery that moved my flights around multiple times in the month leading up to the trip), for less than $150?   I grabbed it.

and because of that, I had access to the United Lounges on my flight there.

here I am around 4am having a light snack in the Lounge in the Austin airport.

the first flight went without a hitch, and since they had upgraded me to Business for the long flight, this much shorter one (still 3 1/2 hours tho) bumped me into 1st class:

nice, wide seats

and to my surprise, a served, warm meal!    the rest of the plane got the option to buy those meal boxes, but I was able to have Peach crepes.

and they were good!  (but it was too much food)

landing in San Francisco, I had about 3 hours until my connecting flight to Beijing. . . which was a good thing, as the walk from my terminal to the gate for the international flight took almost 30 minutes.
(the gates are NEVER close to each other. . LOL).

took this pic of the plane I had gotten off of as I passed it walking from domestic into the international terminal.

I wasn't really hungry, but I had almost 2 hours to kill, so hung out in the lounge there and eventually had a light snack here too.

I'd been really trying to lose some weight before China (so my big American butt would fit in the Chinese rides). . .but this was a bad start that I was already eating way too much.

spoiler tho: I was only denied 5 things during the whole trip. . and really, it was only 3, because one I didn't even try (knew I was too heavy) and the other I was *just* below the weight limit, but I didn't want to argue with them, so just said ok and stepped aside to take pictures instead of riding.

beautiful day tho. . . so wasn't expecting any issues.

hahahaha. . yeah.

some of the SF Airport artwork as I headed to my gate.

which as noted, was the ass end of the airport, and down the stairs.

but at least made it and the flight showed on time still.

the Polaris Business Class on United is amazing.   Even tho I tend to get claustrophobic in these "bathtubs". . these ones seemed OK, since I was the only one on this side, and there was no "door" so it was open.   the seat reclines all the way down and slides forwards and turns it into a flat bed for sleeping.   

they give you so much stuff, it took some rearranging to fit in.   but I enjoyed my glass of champagne while boarding.

then we sat.   

and sat some more.

and sat some more.

the pilot came on multiple times to tell us that we were holding for the wind to let up, but he hoped we could take off.

luckily I wasn't the only one on the China TPR trip, as Shane and his son Fischer were also on board, and also in Business class, so we chatted while we sat.

I got an alert from United offering us a $25 (I think?) coupon to use in the terminal to get a snack, but it must be used today.   and I walked up to Shane's seat and said - "they're gonna make us deplane"  

not even 20 minutes later, we got the announcement that the crew had timed out, and we all had to deplane, and to come back to the same gate in about 3 hours, as they had already called a new flight crew.

the conspiracy theorist in me thinks it had something to do with Air Traffic Controllers (as my prior pic showed, it was a beautiful day. . and other flights were taking off.. so very odd, the "wind" was only affecting the one runway that we HAD to use, because the other one was under construction).     anyways, we took all our carry ons off, and since we were all Business class, we 3 headed back to the lovely United Lounge in the international terminal to hang out and wait.

exhausted already - and not even on the 14+ hour flight - but sending proof of life home to Jim and telling him what's going on.

eventually, we made our way back down to the gate at the new time, and tho they were late getting boarding going - we started boarding moments after the flight crew came in, but interestingly just after the door steward had announced that they were delaying boarding so they could finish cleaning the plane (yes, the same plane we had been on earlier).

so this is me not really trusting them, but trying not to panic, that if the flight got cancelled, how the heck was I gonna get to China in time for the food tour I had booked on the day after my arrival?

but eventually, we did back away from the gate. . and about 6 1/2 hours after we were supposed to have left, we finally took off and headed towards Beijing.

 

here's a peek at the menu - they really do love to feed ya on international flights.

I didn't have everything - I was simply too full.

but I did have the beets salad:

the prawns:

a few cold brews:

and tho I watched a few movies, and never sleep on flights, I actually did lay the chair down into bed position and napped for about an hour or so.

woke up to desert snack service (that I passed on), and this beautiful sunrise out my window.

I did give in and try the grilled cheese for the 2/3rds flight snack (it looked way better than it was, and funnily Shane, Fischer, and I had all gotten it and all had the same opinion of it).

we were starting to pass over cities . . .and were supposed to land soon

only ~7 hours after we had been supposed to arrive. . but hey, we were here!

and the perk of arriving so late, was that the terminal was pretty empty.  

Which made getting thru Customs and immigration a breeze

Shane had arranged a car, and the driver had been following along with our flight delays.. thank goodness he was there waiting for us, when we finally came out of arrivals.

we all breathed a sigh of relief, and piled into the car, for the drive to the hotel we were staying in pre-trip.   a Hilton, as had been recommended by Elissa.

not sure if it was because we arrived so much later than intended, or what.. but I ended up in a HUGE corner suite for the night. . .for a super reasonable (ie: inexpensive) price.

really, the room was big: 

the first of many hotels that had the bathroom/shower open to the main room.

yes, you could pull out the sliding panels to block it off, but it seemed to be a thing in China, that one would be able to watch someone in the bathroom (tho not on the actual toilet - in most cases) if one chose to.

most all of the hotels on this trip provided bottled water, so never really worried about getting sick (and didn't really, luckily).

the view from my corner room.

at this point i was exhausted. . so after a shower and a call home to let Jim know I had arrived safely (14 hour time difference, so my 1am was his late 3pm) I climbed into bed and was out cold.

I had a food tour booked in the morning, and had to check out and meet Elissa in the lobby by 11.

tho I did get up to pee during the night, and the toilet freaked me out enough by opening up to greet me and lighting up, that I grabbed my phone from the charger, and snapped some pics.

freaky

let the adventure begin!!

 

 

[AmyUD06]

I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of this.  There really is no better place than TPR for Trip Reports (I've got about two years worth to write LOL), and I always enjoy yours, so thank you.

[bert425]

Day 0 - Beijing Back alley food tour & bus to 1st basecamp hotel: Universal Studios Beijing!

part 1 

Elissa & Robb had found a local food tour company that was very highly rated, and had made plans to take the tour.   She offered to anyone that was arriving early, if they wanted to join in, and I believe we had all 12 spots filled with TPR folks.

after a great sleep (thanks to Tylenol PM to knock me out and help prevent jet lag), I got up and got my first look at the actual view from my room.  pretty nice.

it was nice and cool, and I had slept with windows cracked. . .was loving the weather.

but I had an important task to take care of now that I was actually thru Immigration & Customs:  

China parks tend to be very restrictive on age/weight/height.    so anything I could do to make myself look younger, I needed to do.   Cutoff age was 49, so needed to look at least that young - or at least tell them I was that young if they asked.

Some dyed hair, but for me, that meant shapewear (for weight, since they mainly eyeball), and cutting off the goatee, as I knew that would make me look much younger. 

and it did

I made sure to take note of the warning on the Q-tips the hotel supplied, and was aware of my "ear socket and deep nostril"

checked out, and had the hotel hold the bags (as we weren't headed over to Universal until ~3pm, and the food tour started at 11am).

we met up in the lobby, and grabbed a pic with Robb, and the cow that was hanging out by the hotel front entrance: 

my roomie for this trip, Stacy, also did the food tour with us!

with excellent Navigation from Elissa, we made our way over to the nearest metro station, and headed to the meeting spot for the food tour.

random pics snapped while walking to the metro.

this rail system was super easy to understand, and that was true of every major city we took the train in.   
and it was great to see so many things with English translations, even if the vast majority of the people did not speak English.  (translator app is super helpful)

we got to our stop about 40 minutes early, so we were cut loose to explore the area and meet back to start the tour at 11.

the area in central Beijing is absolutely gorgeous

the stop we were to meet at was apparently next to a pretty major landmark - the Central Axis and Wanning Bridge:

all over the city there were little "workout" areas and many of them were being used by older folks staying in shape.

Andrew and Jon too !

these folks were just hanging out on an afternoon putting on a performance in a music circle.

myself and John - he was a huge hit over in China (especially among the kids). . they just hadn't seen a beard like this often. . so lots of folks snapping pics of him.

the aforementioned music performance.

and yes, the singer really did sound an awful lot like Yoko Ono singing.   was very cool to hear tho, and the folks gathered were very appreciative.

absolutely no idea why this "Patrick and Spongebob holding each other's cakey-butts" was on this bike, but I saw it several places around Beijing.   perhaps a local "graffiti art" type image?

Dancing Children, yay!!!    Not today, as it was Sunday. . but later in the trip, we'd see so many children in the parks on school trips.   

back at the station, we snapped a pic with our food guide and then we were off!

our first stop down an alley was this tiny (well, they were all pretty small, local places) noodle house.

looking around the alley as our guide explained how this local place had been here for many years, and was very popular for their pulled noodles.

a peek into the kitchen from the table I sat at.

the 12 of us on the tour took up pretty much all the tables in this place, so we were able to learn about the food, and how it's made and should be eaten.

 

mixing everything together.  

it smelled incredible.    

as someone who likes spicy, I added chili sauce to mine, but not until after tasting it first, to get the full flavor of the noodles

yum!

you can tell I just *hated* this  

the kewl side of the place being so small, is that the owner and chef came out and sat with us to watch us eat and judge our reactions.

they were so surprised I asked if I could take their picture.  (behind them are pics of Chinese celebrities who have come by this place for noodles)

moving on towards our next stop, I did notice that some of the architecture in this neighborhood was very "heavy". . . what I'd expect from a Communist place. . but most of it was not.  which made places like this stand out that much more.   I truly was surprised how much i enjoyed the people and places in China, and found everyone to be just delightful.

(well. . except for that one Disney saleswoman who couldn't understand I wanted to buy a medium shirt for my bf, and kept pointing to my belly and saying "too fat" when I tried to check out with the shirt).   LOL

our guide explained to us how most of these entrances we were passing in the alleys were homes, and the blue "studs" indicated wealth/prestige. . so the more of them, the higher the rank.

many had 1 or 2, but a few had 4.

then we turned onto a little strip center and into our 2nd stop:

slightly bigger place, and we only took up two of the 4 long tables in here.

some of the options, tho we were going to try the first one, a famous Beijing dish called a Door Nail Dumpling (because it looks like a door nail on the Forbidden City giant red doors)

our guide explained the history of the dish, how it got it's name. . .

and broke out a local alcohol - that was quite strong - for us to try.

cheers!

here are the Dumplings.

and they were OMG so good. . . I think would rank way up there in the top 3 things I ate this entire trip.

absolutely delicious

back out into the main street, and down another alley way, and we were at our 3rd stop.
 

this one just looked like a doorway. . but as you went back, it split off into multiple houses/restaurants.

we sat at a table in the "courtyard". . and were served multiple dishes to make a meal.

Pork (or chicken. . not sure which)

oh, maybe that one is the chicken?

lots of options on the table, and our guide explained the proper way to eat everything.

these were a "desert". . which really tasted like a red bean marmalade.

it wasn't bad, but it wasn't a favorite of mine.  mainly because I really hate being sticky, and you can tell from just looking at these, how sticky it was.

here she is explaining procedure to us

again, everything was quite good.    very low on the "spiciness" level (for me), but really great on flavor.

 

as soon as was done, I had to go wash my hands (the sticky thing). . so got to see my first "traditional" Chinese toilet.

ta-da!

and then we were  on our way back thru the alleys and back onto a main street for our final stop.

it wasn't on the main floor tho. . it was on the rooftop (overlooking the historical landmark "Drum Tower")

noted, ummmm. . .

vampire policeman? 

I think? 

adorable that they put "cloud lights" above the stairs as you ascend three flights to the rooftop.

the rooftop was lovely - and covered in Astroturf.

yup, our final stop was Hot Pot (which many of us on this trip had never had before). . with beef, pork, and tofu options

and ADORABLE mustard dipping sauce bowls

the aforementioned Drum Tower view from the rooftop dining.

food tour over, and myself full, fat, and happy, we headed back to the metro to grab our luggage from the Hilton, and head over to Universal via transfer bus that Elissa had booked.

the front of the restaurant entrance that we went into for the rooftop dining.

yeah. . the metro was a LITTLE more crowded on the ride back to the Hilton.

but the transfer bus was there, and we loaded our luggage and spread out.  

the official trip didn't start till tomorrow, so 15 or so more folks would be meeting us later at the hotel.

pics from the bus window as we left central Beijing (since the Universal resort is on the town outskirts) and it had been dark the night before, so I didn't get to see really any of the city

just a tiny fraction of the apartment buildings, that stretched for miles in every direction around Beijing.   and crossing over one of the multiple "moats" that surround the city.

and then. . .glimpsed thru the window on the opposite side?   we turned into Universal Beijing resort.

 

to be continued. . . 

[bert425]

Day 0 continued:

arriving at Universal Studios Grand Hotel is quite an experience. . it's a huge hotel that straddles the entrance to the park, and the Citywalk.

very "vintage" Hollywood designed too.

and they were decorated for Halloween!

for some reason (VERY unlike me) I don't seem to have taken any pics of the room at Universal?

but each room was themed, and ours was "Back to the Future". . so we had pics of Doc

and Doc, Marty, the DeLorean in our room.

and a nice view

the lobby is pretty art deco.  loved this lamp.

you could take these stairs down to go thru security for park entry.

we were going to meet up with 'the Nicks" to go into Citywalk, but Stacy and I headed to the bar first.

where we discovered an entire drink menu themed to 'spooky' 

it was called the "Moonlight Berry Whisper" and had a Berry Ice Dragon in it. . of COURSE I had to order it.

it was really good, tho not much alcohol in it.

Fischer had "Shrek's Vitality Potion" and Shane had a "Spiced Soul" I believe

 

after drinks, we headed out to Citywalk, passing right in front of the park gates.

while Universal Beijing doesn't have "Halloween Horror Nights" officially, they DO have "Scares @ Universal" with some very familiar park landmarks that are from HHN, and some Houses, that are included with admission.    as well as a big show and 3 "scare zones" that feature their Halloween Mascots - represented below in the neon sign.

but we'd be doing that tomorrow.     Tonight was just a visit to the Citywalk to check it out, and grab a bite.

Can't be a Universal without the famous globe out front!

not as big as some of the other CityWalks I've been to (tho I've never been to the US Universals). . .but this one had very reasonable prices on everything, and some very decent food options.

and a Popstore - that of course, was sold out of Labubu

PLENTY of everything else tho. . but I very quickly got over the blind box craze. . I wanna know what I'm buying . . . did pick up a few as gifts tho.

very large food court, that was open after the park closed. . . i think we came in here to eat close to 10:30 pm?

everything was so inexpensive, I ended up ordering way too much so I could try things.

my stomach regretted it later that night, but at least I didn't eat all of it.

and only had one of these (gifted one to others at the table, and tossed one). . I got excited by seeing Door Nail Dumpling as an option for a side, and ordered them.   but of course, they were no where near as good as the handmade by grandmas ones we had had earlier today.   They were ok tho. . . just not amazing.

on the way back to the hotel, we popped into Toothsome's to check out prices 
 

they were reasonable, and we ended up grabbing some stuff for our room.

and then the robot guy (no idea what his name is) was out and about at end of night. . so for some reason, I did a "gangsta pose" with him while wearing my Chinese Grandma red jacket. . . LOL

still a good pic tho.

a pic of some of the fountains as we crossed the lake back to the hotel.

and then it was time to crawl into bed, and sleep.

tomorrow was a big day - breakfast included in the hotel, and then a full day at Universal Beijing to kick off the official TPR China trip.

[mikeykaise]

what kind of age and weight restrictions do the parks put on adults in China?

[bert425]

2 hours ago, mikeykaise said:

what kind of age and weight restrictions do the parks put on adults in China?

it really depended what park it was.

but most of the restrictions were under 90kg (~200 lbs), but some were 100kg (220 lbs) or even 80kg (180 lbs or less).    not every ride with a restriction had a scale out, but many of them did.

as to age, 49 seemed to be the cut off, but many of us are older than that, and if asked, just said "I'm 49" and it wasn't a problem.

[mikeykaise]

19 hours ago, bert425 said:

it really depended what park it was.

but most of the restrictions were under 90kg (~200 lbs), but some were 100kg (220 lbs) or even 80kg (180 lbs or less).    not every ride with a restriction had a scale out, but many of them did.

as to age, 49 seemed to be the cut off, but many of us are older than that, and if asked, just said "I'm 49" and it wasn't a problem.

wow, that's crazy.

[bert425]

Day 1:  Universal Studios (full day).  

Part 1: 

 

so today was the official kick off of the trip!   a full day at Universal, and it was a Monday which meant the Halloween event was going on!   (I believe it runs Fri-Mondays until Halloween).

it's NOT called Halloween Horror Nights, seemed to be called "Scares @ Universal" , but a very similar thing, with houses and scare zones - tho what is "scary" in Beijing seemed to be very different than what is "scary" in the US, at least as far as the Scare Zones go.   I'll get to that later in this update

first up tho, was breakfast - which was included every morning during our stay at the Universal Studios Grand Hotel.

here's as close as I seem to have gotten to a "room picture", myself and Stacy that I sent home to let Jim know we were ready to go for the kickoff of the trip.

the walkway to the breakfast area goes over the park entrance, so got a preview of where we would be in the next hour.

and what a surprise!  it's a "character breakfast"

I was absolutely thrilled of course. . . even tho I have not seen more than a couple of the "Despicable Me" films, or any of the "Minions" movies.

they wander around during breakfast from table to table, and also pose at the front for photos.

different characters most mornings.  and in costume for Halloween

it was a very good, and large, breakfast buffet.  and tho I didn't take a lot of pictures of the food, I did focus on the sweets table so got lots of those pics!

Toothless creampuffs

no idea, but adorable

spooky donuts!

I tried this thinking it was just a case of "mis-translation to English". . . but nope, it wasn't pieces of chicken. 
it was Chicken Cartilage.

(one of the few things I moved aside once trying a single, chewy/cruncy bite).

and all areas of the food tables were decked out with these adorable Minions in Halloween costume sculptures:

breakfast eaten, we headed down to the main entrance, and went thru Security as a group  (hotel guests get early entry to some parts of the park, and TPR went thru security and the entry as a group to ensure no issues with tickets.   tho we were all gonna meet up in an hour when Transformers land opened to the public to all ride Decepticoaster together as a group thru the general line.

 

the entrance area really is not that spooky in the daytime, before they pump in all the fog.

reminded me very much of several parks in Europe where the front entrance has a "cover" that turns into an entertainment area at night.

spooky hanging tree

a look back at our hotel from inside the park.

that "bridge" on the 2nd level is where I snapped the pic on the way to breakfast earlier.

out of the main entrance street, you are hit with a stunning view of the main lagoon, and the mountain that houses one of the park's signature rides: Jurassic Flyers.
(that area wasn't open just yet either, but would be in about an hour)

headed towards the "early entry" side of the park:  Minions land, and Harry Potter

Minions land is an indoor area. . not really large, but housing the kiddie coaster, and a couple of flat rides.    

tho if you count the coaster in the facade, this park has five credits

lots and lots of fun theming over here, even if I didn't "get" most of it.

 

Group shot before we split up for about an hour (some to get the kiddie in minions land, or the junior in HP land).  Courtesy of Robb

not allowed to go this way yet (the Moose out front - and those employees there - told us).   but the torches were already lit to start the day.

 

park staff directing folks to the right for Harry Potter, rather than to the left for Jurassic Park area.

tho I've still never been to a USA Universal park - so have nothing to compare it to.  and am not a huge Harry Potter fan (and have issues with the Author). . these lands that I have been in at other Universal parks continue to impress me.

they are so well done.

(tho I will say the "moaning Myrtle" in the bathroom here, sounds very "adult" when she's moaning in Chinese, LOL)

this was the ONLY time all day this area looked like this.   it soon swelled up with so many people (MANY of them dressed in robes with wands) that it was hard to move, and became quite claustrophobic to me.   They LOVE Harry Potter here.

taking advantage of the early entry crowds to get a pic with the train.

the main ride in this area, tho we skipped this for the moment to get in the shortist-it-would-be-all-day line for "Flight of the Hippogriff" - I believe a true Mack junior coaster.     it was more fun than the one I remembered riding at Universal Japan. . so wonder if it's the same model? 

 

by the time we finished that coaster, Jurassic Park and Transformers were about to open, so we headed towards Decipticoaster, cutting thru Jurassic Park.

past Jurassic Park, if you hang a right here, is Transformers world.

this intersection would be used as a "scare zone" later tonight.

my first good view of Decipticoaster's launch.

several folks had told me it was a "clone" of Hulk at the Orlando Park, but in talking to some Universal Beijing folks, they explained it's actually NOT a clone, tho it is very close.  this is due to some minor differences in the track, but heck if I can remember exactly what the differences were that he told me.
 

across the plaza is another large Transformers ride, but that one wasn't opening with this area, and they told us to come back after 2 and they'd have it open for guests.

Decipticoaster doing it's thing.

group shot before we got in line to ride (courtesy of Robb)

whee!   (pics thanks to Elissa)

what did I think?   

I really liked it! 

it had a ton of floater air (which I really enjoy) and when I commented to someone that it wasn't as forceful as I had expected and was very re-rideable for me, that's when he told me about the differences with Hulk at Islands of Adventure.

one thing I DO recall, is the storyline - as I asked about that, since the onboard audio is all in Chinese.

he explained to to me, and now I love the coaster even more:   the train is actually a Decipticon.  an evil surfer (dude) who has turned himself into the train to try and torture/kill the riders, and the control unit is trying to safely get us back to the station.

too damn adorable.

then we all split off again for the rest of the day, and the group I was with headed back over to Jurassic Park to get the other big coaster.

but first, we passed "West Dock Dogs". . which amuses me.

this is the Queue Line for Jurassic Flyers - a Mack inverted powered coaster, that has seating similar to the Arthur ride at Europa Park.

EVERYTHING must go in a locker - tho provided free of charge.   so no pics of the station or queue past the lockers.

I did enjoy this ride, but was disappointed by the lack of any dinosaurs on it!  the paddocks you "fly" over, are all empty.  it seemed as if they blew the whole setting budget on the queue line.   (oh, the ride across from it *totally* makes up for the lack of dinos on this ride, but I really do wish at least there were some statues of dinos in the paddocks you go over).    still a fun time, but the line stayed pretty long all day due to capacity on it, so I only rode this the one time.

here's the ride across from it.

and I wanted Dinos ?   yup, this gave them to me.

Elissa told me this was her favorite ride here, and that I'd love it, and yup, she was 100% correct.

I ended up riding this a few times.   

Myself, Nick, Stacy, and Nick are ready for a Jurassic Adventure!

the queue line formation reminded me a lot of "Dinosaur" at Animal Kingdom  (and we saw a bunch of other TPR folks in this line too)

Universal really does do a great job with the theming in the queues. . . and the use of the digital screens.

no pictures from the actual ride, because there were "no photos or recording" signs everywhere.   but EVERYONE was recording or taking pictures.   on most every ride we had been on thus far.    

So I inquired about it, and the advice we got was "do as the locals do". . . .well, the locals were all taking pics and videoing. . . so when I rode this later, I took some pics that I'll share in part 2 (or 3).    it was hard to get non blurry pics tho, as the vehicles are moving pretty well as you're being chased by dinos. . . LOL

exiting tho, I was able to snap a couple of pics of Jurassic Flyers in action:

then my small group headed over to Minion's land to get the last coaster credit in the park:

Loop-Dee-Doop-Dee - a kiddie/jr coaster, that does, in fact, not "loop", nor "dee-doop" . . but some folks count credits, and MUST ride every coaster available.    as it wasn't just an oval kiddie?  I got in line with them to ride too.

from the station, a peek at one of the other rides in this area.    Dumbo as "bugs" I guess?

the train design is fun too.

do as the locals do -   see, folks filming on the ride.

so we got a pic and it's a pretty good one, I think.

we had the whole day, and with the coasters all ridden (tho some would get re-ridden), we took a detour back to Jurassic Park for Raptor Encounter.

is this Blue?   no idea, but it was well done.

we even talked the Nick's into posting for a pic.

tho I ended up purchasing the one of myself and Stacy.  (it's already hanging on the wall at home).

exploring along the backside of the park - as we hadnt' been over here yet, and the map showed a pretty large structure back here.

turned out it was Kung Fu Panda area (another franchise I have not seen any films from). . to get there you have to pass thru the Waterworld Show section.   we made note of the times it was playing, as I've never seen it, so wanted to catch a showing.

and then suddenly, it gets lush, and there are Panda's everywhere:

 

it's the "Kung Fu Panda: Land of Awesomeness"

and yeah, I'll agree with them. . it's pretty damn STUNNING inside here.

(and cool. . the sun had come out by now and it was warming up)

the lantern balloon ride looks incredible.

as did the carousel - but we'll get to that shortly.

this was the main reason to come back here:  a boat dark ride.

"Journey of the Dragon Warrior"

note it says wait time is 10 minutes.

so that is ALL walking the queue.   I think this one wins the prize for being the longest queue line I'd ever been in.    it just went on and on, room after room, and it was a double sided queue . . so giant rooms of just row after row of empty queues. . . 

Seriously, the walk was almost 9 minutes to get to the loading station.     it was so long, and with so many steps, that even tho I LOVED this ride?  I declined to go back and ride it again later because I didn't want to do that much walking again.     

I can just imagine if every here on a day so busy that the queue would be full. . this would be a 4 hour wait.

finally getting to the load station: 

as noted tho, the ride IS worth it.   such a great dark ride, even if I didn't know any of the characters represented.

really impressive animatronic movements too.

and some screens.

it's a fairly long, and impressive, ride.

wasn't gonna leave this area without carousel freak me, riding the carousel tho!

even talked some non-carousel crazy folks to ride it with me 

such impressive carvings!

and even the toilets in here were themed to the film. . . 

 

to be continued in part 2

 

 

[bert425]

Part 2

 

it was early afternoon and past time for lunch, so we headed over to Harry Potter land, because one of those I was with wanted to get some ButterBeer, and we figured it was worth it to see if we could get into the restaurant there.  nope, the line to get INTO the restaurant was posting a 45 minute wait, and it was so crowded, it triggered an anxiety attack. . so I stepped way over to the side, and just waited for the Butterbeer to be purchased - took the requisite pic of them drinking it in Hogsmeade and with the foam mustache, and then we headed elsewhere to get food.

and easily found short lines, and indoor seating over by Minions land.
 

there were pretty neat "scary" themed cups for sodas, and some themed deserts too.
oh, and because we were near minions land?  anyone who ordered a burger combo (my 3 fellow TPR folks, and a ton of others in the restaurant), got a burger, fries, a drink. . and a Banana.    

no, really.   LOL

although I went for a standard braised pork and tofu bowl.
 

the themed deserts.

I just had to try the "naughty ghost"

what it looked like on the outside

and inside.   I believe it was Passion Fruit, but was very mild in flavor.

didn't get to try this, as I wasn't hungry again tonight. . but these looked SO good!

as we were finishing up, Robb & Elissa sent a message to the group that the 4 houses were about to open up for the night, and now was the time to grab them while the lines were still gonna be really short.

luckily we had been eating right next door to this gate - not even realizing there was a house back there, so we lucked out and were able to quickly get in the line.

fun fact - was told that Universal Beijing was built with the houses in place.  which was why there were specific areas and gates that led to the haunts.    so these are permanent buildings year round that they close off by closing the gates.   and when they want to change a house, they just change what's inside them.

LOTS of queue space, not filled because 1) it was early, and 2) it was a Monday.

love that you can see the Harry Potter area in the background of this queue.

the line moved pretty quickly too. . don't think we waited more than 15 minutes for any of the houses.

this man is holding a sign declaring no photography and no recording without permission.    

unlike on the rides, it seemed that no one was taking pictures or filming without permission, so my phone was kept securely in my pocket for the houses, hence no pics from inside of any of them (sorry)

luckily, Robb *had* permission to film, and he shared with the group, what I thought was the greatest jumpscare I'd ever seen in a house.

we were all talking about the "bathroom scene" in this one house, and he had filmed it and was able to share.   so I'm able to share with y'all too.

SO well done, and no, I have no real idea (just some guesses) how they managed this. . but over and over all night. . so damn impressive.

after the haunt, we still had a few things we hadn't done yet, and I had told William that I'd meet him over at the theater for the evening performance of "the Untrainable Dragon" - as I wanted to see the shows too.     

we had time, so went back into Harry Potter land (and I immediately felt uncomfortable in the crowd), but surprisingly, the Forbidden Journey ride really did only have a 5 minute wait - as the app has said.   so we walked right on to it.   still a fun ride, with impressive technology.

pics from the queue: 

I know the sorting hat. . yay, something I was familiar with

and coming out of the ride, the Tri-Wizard contest show was going on. . .and just like in Japan?  was filled with very handsome white boys for the male academy . . so of course stopped and watched for a moment, before the crowd forced me to peace out and move out of this area. 

one of the Nicks had mentioned something called, I think, "Lights, Camera, Action" - which I knew nothing about, but said it was something that was in the US parks too, so we went over there and did that.  it's a walkthru/show, with a lot of effects, and hosted via screen by Stephen Speilberg.    the fire effects and water effects were impressive, but I totally get why there was no line, and for our "showing" there were maybe 30 people.

then it was on to the big, impressive, Chinese theater facade off to the left of the main street for the How to Train Your Dragon characters in "the Untrainable Dragon"

William met us out front and recommended we sit at the very top of the balcony in the center, to get the best view.  Since I trust him, I did so, and he was right.

fantastic show, with some really impressive special effects.  particularly the flying Toothless, which we got a fantastic view of from our seats.

pics of the show below:

the staging really is a technological marvel.

finishing that show, we still had 3 houses left before the Waterworld show - something I had also never seen and wanted to see.

so we headed towards the next house, and came across the ending of a street performance in this huge moving stage/orchestra.

this house was themed around a movie studio, and tho not "scary" at all, I appreciated the props and sets in this one.    I was hoping for as good a jump scare as the bathtub ghoul had given, but it seems we had started by chance with the best scare of them all 

actors in the queue pretending to film the victims as they lined up.

not 100% positive, but I *think* some of the footage was shown as we were walking thru the house on screens?

he kept "filming" me, so I took a pic of him.

and then we headed over to Waterworld, where we caught the last show of the evening.

i was surprised and not surprised it wasn't all that crowded - people that were here, were here for the Haunts.  and also this is way back at the back of the park.  in other words, it takes an effort to come see this show.

Luckily it is apparently the same show that has been running in Orlando/California parks, so William was able to explain to me what the hell was happening.  Yup, another film I've never seen.      if I look at this as just a stunt show?   it was quite enjoyable. .  in particular how much movement they got on the boats and jet skis in such a small lagoon.

fire!!!

uh oh.. that leaking "fuel" can't be good.

the plane, the plane!!!!

knew that leaking fuel would be an issue!

it was nice and warm on a chilly evening tho.

the Jurassic area looks great lit up at night. . but we were just passing by on our way to the other two houses remaining

Jack's Circus. . oooo. . this has promise

totally NOT Harley Quinn and Joker. . . . gotta love China.    LOL

was a fun house tho not particularly innovative.   about a standard Six Flags house.  not terrible tho.

we realized we had missed a ride over here too, as Minion Mayhem was kinda hidden in this corner.    So got in line and took a spin on that.

this is the only pic I took from that tho. . . thought it was interesting in the queue.

really impressive looking park at night.

and even tho NOT HHN?   this is very familiar.

the last house was based on Universal Monsters.

and tho VERY light on scares?  I loved this one 2nd best. . the design work and props in here blew me away.  it was like walking into the old movies.   and the cockroach room in the mummy section creeped me the F out.

a look at our hotel from the house line.

the main entrance to the house.

so well done.

as mentioned, the entrances to the houses are pretty well "hidden" because they are there year round. . . so I loved that Universal has folks out in the walkways helping to direct parkgoers to the entrances.

 

to be concluded in part 3

 

[bert425]

Day one, concluded.

part 3:

 

we finished up with the last house, and realized that we had done pretty much everything in the park (at least everything we wanted). . but then remembered we hadn't done that other Transformers ride. . and there were things we wanted to reride.

so headed back towards the Transformers area, but noticed a sizable crowd forming in front of the stage at the main entrance as we were about to pass by.

checking the time - it was close to the top of the hour - we realized that the main event/scare zones were about to kick off, and this was the main stage for that.

for Universal Beijing (and I don't know if this is true of the USA parks, as never been), there seem to be 3 "mascots" for the Halloween scares:  Hami Kuma (a rotting teddy bear), Emo Tu (a damaged bunny rabbit), and Foxy Lady (a sultry cat - or maybe a fox?). . and each of them have their own "scare zones" but they come out and perform with their scare actors before they head into the zones.

so we decided to hang out and watch the show.

things are lighting up!

and the crowd behind us is getting a bit larger. . .

these are the "pep squad" for Hami Kuma - the bear

 

and here he comes to "dance"

next out is Emo Tu  - the scary rabbit.  he seems to be a bit punk, not Emo tho. 

these two have a rivalry. . .it seems.   and a Dance Off

until Foxy Lady comes out, to the biggest cheers, and puts them in their place

it's quite the spectacle.

SO. MUCH. NEON.

each "scare zone" area, has neon of that character. . so this is Foxy Lady's section.

show seen, we continued towards Transformers, as the scare zones filled up.

and I remembered to take a pic of that beautiful theater that houses the How To Train Your Dragon show.

I'm pretty sure this is the Teddy Bear's scare zone.

the actors were thrilled to pose with me, and they were easy to spot as each one has a handler who had a light on their vests.  so I just looked for the lights, then went over for pics.

Stacy staring down a scare actor. .

Decepticoaster looks amazing at night!

and this was kind of a "do-si-do" type ride . . similar to Baymax.  it looked like it had good theming, but still had a bit of a line, so skipped.

this is what we had come back to ride - Transformers:  Battle for the All Spark.

a 3D ride, that was very similar ride system to Spider-Man.

it had a queue line that was pretty dang long, tho not quite as long as the Kung Fu panda one was.   We waited in this longish line, because it was really the only thing we hadn't ridden yet that we wanted to in the park.   Think it was about a 45 minute wait.

and honestly?  couldn't remember a thing about it. . . LOL. . I had to Youtube the ride, to remind me what it was, that's how i remember it was similar to Spider-Man.

oh well. . lots of screens, and I rode it.

after that ride, we stopped by Decepticoaster again. . . so good at night. . 

and then thru the Emo Rabbit's scare zone.

it was time to go back for re-rides, on my favorite ride in the park - Jurassic Adventure, which was showing a 5 minute wait (unlike the flyers that were still showing 45 minute wait).

my pic of the ride vehicles didn't come out well, so snagged this one online. . .but here's what they look like.

this time I did like the locals, and had my phone out !  and already moving fast enough - before we even GET to dinosaurs, that the pic of Stacy and I came out blurry).

this one also starts with some screens

but with some animatronics mixed in.

and then it goes full on physical, with really impressive animatronics.    

this isn't even close to how many are in the ride, but these are the best pics I got:

LOVED this ride.

worth a trip to USB just for this ride!

feet hurting, and close to the end of night anyways (it was probably less than 30 minutes to close) we headed towards the front - which happens to be where Foxy Lady's "Scare Zone" is.   Again, I looked for the handlers with the neon lights to find the actors:

and caught a bit of a 2nd performance by the trio. . with some slightly better pics.

shopping before heading out, of course they have their own merch too

the scary tree at the front, looks really great on the way out!

looking back into the park. . as mentioned, the covered entrance really gets the party feeling going at the end of the night.

and then it was time for the short walk back to the hotel room to shower and crash.

what an exhausting 1st day, but it was so, so good. . . and still had over 3 weeks left to go!