So, day 2 ended with me and my friend Dainan (picture on Day 4 when I post it) hanging out till the wee hours then going to bed. Of course I also forgot I was supposed to be meeting a friend early the next morning. Oh well. lol My other friend (Francisco) gave me a ride to Universal and I got there around 8:30. I had a slight hang up at the ticket booth to redeem my free Super Bowl ticket, but still made it into the park befor nine. Where was I headed?
Really great new ride
I was lucky that it opened at 9 with the rest of the park. I got to ride it 3 times in a row with no wait whatsoever!! The music on the ride was quite a nice addition. And it wasn't too loud IMO, but I'm also part deaf!
Anywho, after my 3 rides I decided to move on before lines started there and everywhere.
This is what the park looks like when you get there right at opening.
I headed to my all-time favorite Universal ride, Revenge of the Mummy. Rode that probably 3 times as well. The mummy at the beginning wasn't working that day. I headed back around the front, mainly to get another ride in on HRRR. It was down.
Ran into these guys. The Shaggy necessarily doesn't resemble him face wise but sounded just like him.
Marge had apparently killed Homer. Bart was enthused
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This monkey is curious. And his name is George. And he was by HRRR, which was down at that time.
I don't know why I went the long way to The Simpsons and MIB, but I did. I'm still not a big fan of MIB, but I love The Simpsons.
HHN decorations: not scary in the daylight
I headed back around to the front to ride Shrek, and probably Jimmy but I don't remember riding Jimmy. But I probably did.
I was then starving, and knew I'd be eating at Finnegan's the next day and didn't want Lombard's, so I decided to walk over to IOA and eat at Mythos. LOVE that place! I had the French Onion Soup for my appetizer and it was delicious!! Honestly, the best FOS I've had ever so far!! They also had good sweet tea. I'm 95% sure I had the Risotoo of the Day for my entree, which was the exact same as the had in '08, but I think it tasted better this trip. I may have gotten a dessert shot, but I'm not sure. Anywho, paid and left. I know I headed back towards Marvel to ride Hulk/Spider-Man. I probably rode Cat in the Hat, cause it is made of win.
This is the only super hero I got a picture with the entire trip. Why?
Ok, so going by my pics, I was wrong earlier. I didn't ride Shrek again until I got back to USO after IOA. Isn't it great to park hop without an hour of commuting?
Why am I posing so hard in this picture?
I don't think I got a dessert shot after all cause I now remember getting a milkshake at Mel's while waiting for the next showing of the Horror Make-Up Show. The milkshake was good, but I should have gotten a small cause I wasted most of it. Oh well. After the HMUS, I went and got my ride on again at HRRR. Apparently my body had enough of that ride cause I started to get a head ache. Maybe I had encountered one of the rough cars I heard people talk about? Anywho, my feet hurt, I didn't want to walk to the back and do Disaster/Jaws, so I booked it out of there.
That night was my dinner date with Laura (laurabearz on here), and I knew she was supposed to be getting to RPH sometime around the time I was heading out. So I gave her a call and told her I was tired and pained so I would just meet her in the lobby of RPH (plus some A/C would have been nice).
Speaking of A/C, let me digress for a moment. It was freaking hot that week!!! Last year when I went it was in the 80's most of the week, and this time it was 90+ all week! I need to check the weather before I leave next time, cause I didn't know there was a heat wave. And, no, I didn't start it by letting my seat wave, or I would have stopped waving it. lol
So, I speak with Laura and she's actually already checked in and everything, so I tell her I'll met her by the boat dock, cause she needed to go by guest services and get her new AP or something along those lines. Laura is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met. The first thing she tells me when we meet is she got free drinks on the plane by changing seats with someone...and she has a drink in her hand. So she was veeeeeerrry happy by then.
Talking with Laura was like we had been friends the entire time and we hadn't just met. She was a hoot!!
So we go to GS and she gets that stuff done. Then she wants to ride HRRR. I oblige, because we still have time before the reservation. The line was quite long by then, but single rider was open, but that was somewhat long too. So we wait. We don't see any cars moving, so we decide to head out and go eat (I think it was close to our ressie by then).
Laura took this for me on our way out. You can see the pain in my feet in my eyes.
Dinner at Tchoup Chop was amazing! We each shared a bit of our food with each other and split other things. I knew I wanted edamame and sushi. Laura tried the sushi, but it wasn't her cup of tea. She had gotten 2 other appetizers, which we both had, I know one was the dumpling box, I forget the other. I had the tuna steak for my entree and Laura had the sea scallops. The sea scallops were what my friend Jeff had last year when we went and I loved them. This year they changed to risotto that came with it to a butternut squash one which wasn't that good. For dessert, we split the coconut cream cake and a pot of tea. The cake was delicious!!
Us at Tchoup Chop
We then went to Laura's room to chat and she fixed me up with some mole skin for my aching feets, which worked like a charm. My blisters were gone by the day after. And I learned that I can wear Crocs to tour, I just have to wear socks with them. So, we chatted and Laura had an apple. Then I decided to go back to my hotel. Luckily there was a shuttle outside that would take me back for only $25, which was probably cheaper than a cab. I texted Dainan to let him know I was back if he wanted to come over again after work, which he did. I showered and then slept. Next day was to be a looooong day!!