themepark
Wanted: Your trip reports!<br><font color=00cc22>I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
Cast of Characters
My Family
Me - Grinch fan, themepark nut...would go everyday if I could
DH - People watcher, almost as much of a nut as me
DD(10) - Loves the scary stuff
DS (8) - stretching himself so he can be tall enough to ride Hulk and Dueling Dragons on our next trip
Our Friends
LL & K - First trip to Universal. Celebrating their anniversary on this very day!
C (8) - The Hulk and Dr. Doom's newest fan
Saturday, May 29
We woke up, ate a light breakfast in our rooms and at the request of C, headed off to IOA. He was eager to ride Dueling Dragons once more. LL was talking about getting things together to pack for our trip home. I ignored her because I refuse to believe that we have to leave the next day. We walked to IOA. It was now Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and you could tell the crowds were picking up. We breezed right on by the crowds waiting to buy tickets and walked through Seuss Landing on our way to Dueling Dragons. FINALLY, we saw him! The Grinch! We had been in this part of the park too late to see him every other day of this trip. When we approach him, a kid has a remote control that he is "controlling" the Grinch with. It was quite comical. The Grinch ended up chasing our kids around. Meanwhile, I inched my way closer to my beloved Grinch being careful not to knock down too many small children. Fortunately it was early and there weren't too many small kids around.
We took several pictures with the mean green guy and bid farewell. Once again, I managed not to get a photo of me and my family with the Grinch. I can already hear my friend back home telling me how I have missed another perfect opportunity for the perfect Christmas card. I decide that I will just have to plan another Universal trip before Christmas! Problem solved. We also saw Thing One and Thing Two, The Cat in the Hat, and Sam I Am.
We walked on to the Lost Continent. We never made it to Poseiden's Fury on this trip. I have seen it once and that was really enough but I did feel bad that our friends didn't get to experience everything in the parks since it was their first time. If we had to miss something, I guess this was a good choice. As we walked by the Mystic Fountain, he/she/it looked lonely with no one there so I suggested we go check it out. He/she/it woke up and began chatting with and telling jokes to the three kids. They told jokes back and naturally got squirted with water. As they are joking around, DH comes running out of nowhere dancing like a fool, waving his arms in the air and making faces at the fountain. He was soaked by the time we walked away. The fountain said the kids should be embarrassed that he is their dad!
We walked up to the Express line at Dueling Dragons and there was nobody in line. In the queue area where you board, we walked up and got right on Fire. There were lots of empty seats even. We ended up riding twice. We then walked on to the Flying Unicorn where K had taken DS to get his last fix of the trip. DS had ridden 3 times already. There was no line here either. We all joined him for one ride then DS and C rode it once more. Fare Thee Well!
Off we headed to Jurassic Park. DD, who you might remember had previously hated JPRA, has decided that it is a very cool ride and insists to ride it now. LL, who you might remember is not very fond of water rides, searches for an out. DS tells C about the Jurassic Park Discovery Center so luckily for LL she has her out and can stay with them there. DH, K, DD, and I go through the Express line and immediately board JPRA. We all make goofy faces and wave our arms in the air,make peace signs, etc.. for the picture. DD's face was covered up by a hand in the photo so we decide to ride one more time and try for another funny photo. Again, we boarded immediately and made the goofy photo which we did not buy but it was funny listening to other people point and laugh at our picture. We walked back to JPDC and found the rest of the gang having fun. We ended up getting an early lunch at Burger Digs. The 3 kids, LL, and I shared 2 orders of chicken tenders and fries. We each got our own drinks. This was plenty of food for all of us as the portions were quite large. DH and K went in search of the perfect hotdog. They finally found what they wanted at Blondie's in Toon Lagoon and returned to JPDC to eat with us. The kids played awhile longer.
It was getting hotter and we decided it was time for more water rides. LL's eyes glazed over and she again started talking about getting things packed up to go home the next day. I ignored her again as I refuse to believe that I ever have to go home while I am at Universal. If I don't think about it, it won't happen..right? She left us and headed back to RPR. "I say..You're going the wrong way!" The rest of us rode Ripsaw Falls. It was great as always and we came off soaked this time. On to Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. They had an attendant stationed at the Express door and they would let the express people through, then the regular line. I remember on previous visits, there being no one there and you had to battle your way in to the regular line. I hated that so I was glad to see the lines being operated this way. We rode 3 times. One word of advice here: You have to keep your shoes on until you are seated in the boat. Then you can take them off and put them in the dry box. C had taken his shoes off once while we were still in line and they made him put them back on until he got in the boat. I saw them doing this with others too. I am sure it is for safety while boarding, but they don't care if you take them off once you are seated.
On one of our rides on the barges, a man with some kids got on our barge. He was wearing jeans and a heavy cotton collared shirt. He did not look too pleased to be on this ride. Well guess who took most of the water that splashed into the boat. You got it! Poor guy was drenched. He had left his sneakers on too. He was already soaked when we went up the lift and I knew from the position of the boat that he was going to take all the water when we went down the fast rapid part of the ride. And he did. He looked even more unhappy than he had. DH and I thought is was amusing and we quietly snickered.
Next we got the kids some Dippin Dots and walked toward Marvel Super Hero Island. We stopped for photos with Bluto and Betty Boop. DH and I got soft serve ice cream in a waffle cone and people watched while we ate. We then rode Spiderman. K, who had not been as impressed as I thought he should have been the first time he rode, commented on what an awesome ride it was this time. The first time, it broke down just as we were supposed to drop to the web. It just wasn't same even after it began running again. Anyway, he seemed thoroughly impressed this time. I am impressed each time I ride it. We got some souvenir pennies on our way out.
I had promised the kids they could go to Curious George Goes to Town and check it out since we had never made time to do this on previous trips so we decided to bid farewell to IOA. DH decided to go back to RPR and lounge by the pool. K went with us to USF in hopes of riding the Mummy once more. We walked right back to the Mummy, found a locker, and headed in. We were told the wait in Express was 30 minutes. Being incredibly spoiled with staying onsite as we are, we decided not to wait. I went back to the locker to retrieve our stuff. Alot of people were having trouble with the fingerprint system and weren't able to get back in the lockers. There were people working there who moved things along rather quickly though. I had no trouble getting my fingerprint to scan and retrieving my stuff possibly because of my record with the FBI and America's Most Wanted? I didn't push those kids waiting to see the Grinch that hard.
K left us to go back to RPR and the kids and I walked over to Curious George. I found a seat on a bench where a fan was directly blowing on me. For the first 30 minutes, I never saw the kids. I later found out they had been in the ball factory which I didn't even know was back there. I enjoyed resting and was highly entertained by the kids and adults who would come running to have a huge bucket of water dumped on them. Now, here's the question I have been pondering...Why in the world would anyone wear high heels to a theme park? I always see women in them at parks and it makes my feet hurt just looking at them. Fashion is off when you are at a theme park, KWIM. How fashionable can you be when you are all sweaty and smelly and have sticky cotton candy toddler handprints all over you? I saw one lady in the Curious George area chasing a little one around. She was wearing a nice silk blouse and matching skirt and had 3-4 inch heels on. Ouch. Fortunately for my feet, I had on the trusty Birkenstocks. Actually my feet were quite tired so I couldn't imagine how they would feel in heels. Anyway...the kids played for 2 1/2 hours...that's right 2.5 hours until I told them we had to leave. They all sighed and didn't want to leave. On our way out, I asked if anyone wanted to ride Shrek or Jimmy Neutron and much to my surprise they all declined. I think they might actually be tired.
We exited the park and walked toward the water taxi dock. I remembered that I wanted to look in a few shops that were just up the stairs in front of the docks so we headed up there. When we reached the top of the steps, my phone rang. It was LL. She and K were on their way to HRH to look around and have their anniversary dinner at The Palm. We waved to them as they sailed away on the boat to HRH. I ended up buying 3 American Idol talking Simon bobbleheads and one mixed up clock all for under $20. These will make great gifts. I also saw a shirt that said "Runs With Scissors". I wanted this but it wasn't on sale and it's the end of our trip and I am broke so I refrain. On our way back down to the water taxi, I let all 3 kids play one of the carnival games. No matter what you did on this game, you would win something. DS and C won the smallest prize possible. DD managed to pull out the number that awarded you the biggest stuffed animal. She was thrilled. Her brother is usually the lucky one.
We rode the water taxi back and scanned the pool area looking for DH. He was nowhere to be found. We found him in the room and he said he had just come up wondering where we were. We all headed back down to the pool and got our favorite seats between the Bula Bar and the ship. DH had already spent several hours there drinking the $2.50 Bud Light Memorial Day weekend specials. He began telling me about his people watching activities of the day while we ordered more of the $2.50 Bud Lights. We had encountered a couple of ladies a few days earlier who wore cowboy hats at the pool. They never took them off while swimming. One of the hats said, "Pink Taco...Las Vegas" on the front. DH said Pink Taco strutted around the pool all afternoon with her hat and high heels on. He said she never seemed to actually be going anywhere but just walked back and forth and around the pool. He said she got in once and knocked some kids (presumably they were with her) off a float. Pink Taco then got on the float and floated around still wearing the hat of course. DH said she fell off once but miraculously the hat did not fall off or seem to get wet. That takes talent I tell ya! While all this was going on, DH was sitting in front of one of the cabanas and had seen people using it during the day. When they packed up their stuff and left, a family came over and closed the curtains and started changing clothes inside. The man struck up a conversation with DH. DH asked him how much the cabanas cost and if it was worth the cost, etc.. The guy said he didn't actually rent it but was using it since they were so great and no one else was using it so what the heck. He then told DH how great the cabanas were and he was sure they were worth the fee even though he had never paid it. Someone walked by and the guy started talking to him and DH heard him talking about his new house just off I-4 and how that guy should come over for one of their pool parties and such. When the family finished changing in the cabana and began to depart, the guy says to DH, "You can have the cabana now since I won't be using it anymore today." Mighty nice of him to give something away that didn't even belong to him!
DH got a kick out of all this.
We ate dinner poolside ordering from the Bula Bar. We ordered 3 kids chicken tenders with fries, a Big Bula Burger with fries, Chicken Quesadillas, and 4 Bud Lights. It came to $54 with tip. Not bad. We would have spent more dining at a Citywalk restaurant. The quesadillas were delicious. C, the chicken tender connoisseur, declared the chicken awesome and the best he had eaten on our trip. This was saying alot since I am pretty certain he ate them at each meal. LL and K arrived at the pool around 9:00. I was surprised since this was their date night. Remember we stayed out until after midnight on ours. They had eaten dinner at The Palm and weren't overly pleased with the experience. They said the food was good but way overpriced. And their service was terrible. Their waiter made them feel like they were a bother to him. He was rude to them throughout the meal. At the end, he had left his pen for them to sign the bill. He didn't see it when he returned and started lifting the napkins looking for it. He groaned as he walked away. LL said she guessed he thought they had stolen his ink pen, but it was indeed lying on the table and she wasn't about to tell him where. They then walked over to PBH which they found very romantic. They ended up walking all the way back to RPR from PBH. They said the walk took them about 30 minutes. LL started talking again about going to the room to pack for the journey home. I changed the subject and pretended like I didn't hear her.
We left the pool around 10:30 and headed up to the rooms. LL packed while I made trip report notes and thought about how our stay was ending. Reality was sinking in. Normally, we would check out and enjoy our FOTL for one more day before heading out. We would not be doing that this time since our friends only had 5 day passes and they were now expired. They were actually anxious to get back home. I just don't understand how you can ever be ready to leave RPR.
Now that I have finally finished Day 5, a report on check-out day and a wrap up will follow. Thanks for reading!
My Family
Me - Grinch fan, themepark nut...would go everyday if I could
DH - People watcher, almost as much of a nut as me
DD(10) - Loves the scary stuff
DS (8) - stretching himself so he can be tall enough to ride Hulk and Dueling Dragons on our next trip
Our Friends
LL & K - First trip to Universal. Celebrating their anniversary on this very day!
C (8) - The Hulk and Dr. Doom's newest fan
Saturday, May 29
We woke up, ate a light breakfast in our rooms and at the request of C, headed off to IOA. He was eager to ride Dueling Dragons once more. LL was talking about getting things together to pack for our trip home. I ignored her because I refuse to believe that we have to leave the next day. We walked to IOA. It was now Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and you could tell the crowds were picking up. We breezed right on by the crowds waiting to buy tickets and walked through Seuss Landing on our way to Dueling Dragons. FINALLY, we saw him! The Grinch! We had been in this part of the park too late to see him every other day of this trip. When we approach him, a kid has a remote control that he is "controlling" the Grinch with. It was quite comical. The Grinch ended up chasing our kids around. Meanwhile, I inched my way closer to my beloved Grinch being careful not to knock down too many small children. Fortunately it was early and there weren't too many small kids around.
We took several pictures with the mean green guy and bid farewell. Once again, I managed not to get a photo of me and my family with the Grinch. I can already hear my friend back home telling me how I have missed another perfect opportunity for the perfect Christmas card. I decide that I will just have to plan another Universal trip before Christmas! Problem solved. We also saw Thing One and Thing Two, The Cat in the Hat, and Sam I Am. We walked on to the Lost Continent. We never made it to Poseiden's Fury on this trip. I have seen it once and that was really enough but I did feel bad that our friends didn't get to experience everything in the parks since it was their first time. If we had to miss something, I guess this was a good choice. As we walked by the Mystic Fountain, he/she/it looked lonely with no one there so I suggested we go check it out. He/she/it woke up and began chatting with and telling jokes to the three kids. They told jokes back and naturally got squirted with water. As they are joking around, DH comes running out of nowhere dancing like a fool, waving his arms in the air and making faces at the fountain. He was soaked by the time we walked away. The fountain said the kids should be embarrassed that he is their dad!
We walked up to the Express line at Dueling Dragons and there was nobody in line. In the queue area where you board, we walked up and got right on Fire. There were lots of empty seats even. We ended up riding twice. We then walked on to the Flying Unicorn where K had taken DS to get his last fix of the trip. DS had ridden 3 times already. There was no line here either. We all joined him for one ride then DS and C rode it once more. Fare Thee Well!
Off we headed to Jurassic Park. DD, who you might remember had previously hated JPRA, has decided that it is a very cool ride and insists to ride it now. LL, who you might remember is not very fond of water rides, searches for an out. DS tells C about the Jurassic Park Discovery Center so luckily for LL she has her out and can stay with them there. DH, K, DD, and I go through the Express line and immediately board JPRA. We all make goofy faces and wave our arms in the air,make peace signs, etc.. for the picture. DD's face was covered up by a hand in the photo so we decide to ride one more time and try for another funny photo. Again, we boarded immediately and made the goofy photo which we did not buy but it was funny listening to other people point and laugh at our picture. We walked back to JPDC and found the rest of the gang having fun. We ended up getting an early lunch at Burger Digs. The 3 kids, LL, and I shared 2 orders of chicken tenders and fries. We each got our own drinks. This was plenty of food for all of us as the portions were quite large. DH and K went in search of the perfect hotdog. They finally found what they wanted at Blondie's in Toon Lagoon and returned to JPDC to eat with us. The kids played awhile longer.
It was getting hotter and we decided it was time for more water rides. LL's eyes glazed over and she again started talking about getting things packed up to go home the next day. I ignored her again as I refuse to believe that I ever have to go home while I am at Universal. If I don't think about it, it won't happen..right? She left us and headed back to RPR. "I say..You're going the wrong way!" The rest of us rode Ripsaw Falls. It was great as always and we came off soaked this time. On to Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. They had an attendant stationed at the Express door and they would let the express people through, then the regular line. I remember on previous visits, there being no one there and you had to battle your way in to the regular line. I hated that so I was glad to see the lines being operated this way. We rode 3 times. One word of advice here: You have to keep your shoes on until you are seated in the boat. Then you can take them off and put them in the dry box. C had taken his shoes off once while we were still in line and they made him put them back on until he got in the boat. I saw them doing this with others too. I am sure it is for safety while boarding, but they don't care if you take them off once you are seated.
On one of our rides on the barges, a man with some kids got on our barge. He was wearing jeans and a heavy cotton collared shirt. He did not look too pleased to be on this ride. Well guess who took most of the water that splashed into the boat. You got it! Poor guy was drenched. He had left his sneakers on too. He was already soaked when we went up the lift and I knew from the position of the boat that he was going to take all the water when we went down the fast rapid part of the ride. And he did. He looked even more unhappy than he had. DH and I thought is was amusing and we quietly snickered.
Next we got the kids some Dippin Dots and walked toward Marvel Super Hero Island. We stopped for photos with Bluto and Betty Boop. DH and I got soft serve ice cream in a waffle cone and people watched while we ate. We then rode Spiderman. K, who had not been as impressed as I thought he should have been the first time he rode, commented on what an awesome ride it was this time. The first time, it broke down just as we were supposed to drop to the web. It just wasn't same even after it began running again. Anyway, he seemed thoroughly impressed this time. I am impressed each time I ride it. We got some souvenir pennies on our way out.
I had promised the kids they could go to Curious George Goes to Town and check it out since we had never made time to do this on previous trips so we decided to bid farewell to IOA. DH decided to go back to RPR and lounge by the pool. K went with us to USF in hopes of riding the Mummy once more. We walked right back to the Mummy, found a locker, and headed in. We were told the wait in Express was 30 minutes. Being incredibly spoiled with staying onsite as we are, we decided not to wait. I went back to the locker to retrieve our stuff. Alot of people were having trouble with the fingerprint system and weren't able to get back in the lockers. There were people working there who moved things along rather quickly though. I had no trouble getting my fingerprint to scan and retrieving my stuff possibly because of my record with the FBI and America's Most Wanted?
I didn't push those kids waiting to see the Grinch that hard. K left us to go back to RPR and the kids and I walked over to Curious George. I found a seat on a bench where a fan was directly blowing on me. For the first 30 minutes, I never saw the kids. I later found out they had been in the ball factory which I didn't even know was back there. I enjoyed resting and was highly entertained by the kids and adults who would come running to have a huge bucket of water dumped on them. Now, here's the question I have been pondering...Why in the world would anyone wear high heels to a theme park? I always see women in them at parks and it makes my feet hurt just looking at them. Fashion is off when you are at a theme park, KWIM. How fashionable can you be when you are all sweaty and smelly and have sticky cotton candy toddler handprints all over you? I saw one lady in the Curious George area chasing a little one around. She was wearing a nice silk blouse and matching skirt and had 3-4 inch heels on. Ouch. Fortunately for my feet, I had on the trusty Birkenstocks. Actually my feet were quite tired so I couldn't imagine how they would feel in heels. Anyway...the kids played for 2 1/2 hours...that's right 2.5 hours until I told them we had to leave. They all sighed and didn't want to leave. On our way out, I asked if anyone wanted to ride Shrek or Jimmy Neutron and much to my surprise they all declined. I think they might actually be tired.
We exited the park and walked toward the water taxi dock. I remembered that I wanted to look in a few shops that were just up the stairs in front of the docks so we headed up there. When we reached the top of the steps, my phone rang. It was LL. She and K were on their way to HRH to look around and have their anniversary dinner at The Palm. We waved to them as they sailed away on the boat to HRH. I ended up buying 3 American Idol talking Simon bobbleheads and one mixed up clock all for under $20. These will make great gifts. I also saw a shirt that said "Runs With Scissors". I wanted this but it wasn't on sale and it's the end of our trip and I am broke so I refrain. On our way back down to the water taxi, I let all 3 kids play one of the carnival games. No matter what you did on this game, you would win something. DS and C won the smallest prize possible. DD managed to pull out the number that awarded you the biggest stuffed animal. She was thrilled. Her brother is usually the lucky one.
We rode the water taxi back and scanned the pool area looking for DH. He was nowhere to be found. We found him in the room and he said he had just come up wondering where we were. We all headed back down to the pool and got our favorite seats between the Bula Bar and the ship. DH had already spent several hours there drinking the $2.50 Bud Light Memorial Day weekend specials. He began telling me about his people watching activities of the day while we ordered more of the $2.50 Bud Lights. We had encountered a couple of ladies a few days earlier who wore cowboy hats at the pool. They never took them off while swimming. One of the hats said, "Pink Taco...Las Vegas" on the front. DH said Pink Taco strutted around the pool all afternoon with her hat and high heels on. He said she never seemed to actually be going anywhere but just walked back and forth and around the pool. He said she got in once and knocked some kids (presumably they were with her) off a float. Pink Taco then got on the float and floated around still wearing the hat of course. DH said she fell off once but miraculously the hat did not fall off or seem to get wet. That takes talent I tell ya! While all this was going on, DH was sitting in front of one of the cabanas and had seen people using it during the day. When they packed up their stuff and left, a family came over and closed the curtains and started changing clothes inside. The man struck up a conversation with DH. DH asked him how much the cabanas cost and if it was worth the cost, etc.. The guy said he didn't actually rent it but was using it since they were so great and no one else was using it so what the heck. He then told DH how great the cabanas were and he was sure they were worth the fee even though he had never paid it. Someone walked by and the guy started talking to him and DH heard him talking about his new house just off I-4 and how that guy should come over for one of their pool parties and such. When the family finished changing in the cabana and began to depart, the guy says to DH, "You can have the cabana now since I won't be using it anymore today." Mighty nice of him to give something away that didn't even belong to him!
DH got a kick out of all this. We ate dinner poolside ordering from the Bula Bar. We ordered 3 kids chicken tenders with fries, a Big Bula Burger with fries, Chicken Quesadillas, and 4 Bud Lights. It came to $54 with tip. Not bad. We would have spent more dining at a Citywalk restaurant. The quesadillas were delicious. C, the chicken tender connoisseur, declared the chicken awesome and the best he had eaten on our trip. This was saying alot since I am pretty certain he ate them at each meal. LL and K arrived at the pool around 9:00. I was surprised since this was their date night. Remember we stayed out until after midnight on ours. They had eaten dinner at The Palm and weren't overly pleased with the experience. They said the food was good but way overpriced. And their service was terrible. Their waiter made them feel like they were a bother to him. He was rude to them throughout the meal. At the end, he had left his pen for them to sign the bill. He didn't see it when he returned and started lifting the napkins looking for it. He groaned as he walked away. LL said she guessed he thought they had stolen his ink pen, but it was indeed lying on the table and she wasn't about to tell him where. They then walked over to PBH which they found very romantic. They ended up walking all the way back to RPR from PBH. They said the walk took them about 30 minutes. LL started talking again about going to the room to pack for the journey home. I changed the subject and pretended like I didn't hear her.
We left the pool around 10:30 and headed up to the rooms. LL packed while I made trip report notes and thought about how our stay was ending. Reality was sinking in. Normally, we would check out and enjoy our FOTL for one more day before heading out. We would not be doing that this time since our friends only had 5 day passes and they were now expired. They were actually anxious to get back home. I just don't understand how you can ever be ready to leave RPR.
Now that I have finally finished Day 5, a report on check-out day and a wrap up will follow. Thanks for reading!
We never tried the food at the pool our trip, but I would love to if we ever return. The chicken quesadillas sound yummy. Thanks for taking the time to relive your trip for us. I enjoyed every minute of it.
