Woke up today and had our breakfast, then we realized that we were still an hour behind due to the time change. So we went back to our room and hung out for a bit. We decided to walk to Universal since our hotel was only a block away. It ended up being about a 15 to 20 minute walk, which was okay in the morning but proved too much at the end of the day. On the way there we saw about 30 or 40 geckos running across the pavement in front of us as we walked along.
The kids wanted to do Islands of Adventure first. We picked up our Will-Call tickets and headed into the park. Jorden wanted to do the Hulk Coaster first, so we headed straight there. As we approached it, I was hearing the roaring of the coaster along the tracks and the screams of the riders, and I decided I wasn’t going to ride. I just wasn’t prepared yet for a coaster, had to ease myself in with some other rides first, maybe. so John and the kids rode it while I waited.
When they were done, Kelsey wanted to ride again, but Jorden was feeling a little woozy and didn’t want to, so Kelsey and John rode again. Jorden and I played with the cool fingerprint lockers. They have these lockers for the coaster where you use a scan of your fingerprint to lock the locker with your stuff in it for while you are on the coaster. Pretty cool.
When Kelsey and John were done we headed towards the Spiderman ride, and John and the kids went on and I waited outside again because the sign mentioned motion sickness. I took a couple of photos of the area which I I thought was impressive.
They came off the ride raving about it, and John insisted I had to try it and that it was fine and wouldn’t make me sick, so we went on it again right then. Well this ride was so awesome. The 3D effects were unbelievable, the best I’ve seen yet, better than any of the Disney 3D shows. It really was an amazing ride, and I’m sure glad I went on.
As we moved along, the kids wanted to ride the log ride they saw next in the Toon area (can’t remember the name) but John and I didn’t want to get wet. So we thought since it wasn’t busy at all it would be okay if they just went on together and we waited at the exit. So John waited at the exit, and I took a pic from the bridge:
They are both in the front, and they got completely soaked from head to toe. When Kelsey came off she was crying because she said the ride wrenched her back when it went down the hill. Not good, I thought. We checked her over, and she seemed okay and we thought we’d wait and see how she was and if it didn’t feel better in a bit we’d take her to first aid. She did get better, but it still bothered her. I think that perhaps she was just too light for the right and got wrenched around in her seat a bit too much. She meets the height requirements for all rides, but she’s just 53″ and only about 55 pounds, so she’s very slender and tiny for a 10 year old.
We then went to the Jurassic Park area. We tried to get on these pterodactyl flyers that looked really fun, but there was a 45 minute wait. Instead we went to the Jurassic Park ride. This ride is really neat too, with all the animatronics dinosaurs. Kelsey said the drop at the end kind of hurt her already sore back a little bit, but she didn’t complain too much, tough kid.
We walked around and the kids wanted to play around in the Dinosaur Discovery area, which we were happy with because we could sit down and rest. My feet were killing me! After about 40 minutes in there, we went to the Unicorn coaster, which is basically just a mini coaster for kids, and was okay. We walked down and looked at the Dueling Dragon coasters and I shivered in my shoes. I told John there was no way in god’s green acre he would be getting me on that coaster NO MATTER WHAT. It’s two coasters that go at the same time and look like they are going to hit each other, and it’s not a sit down coaster, it’s one of those ones where you are hanging. Jorden didn’t want to do it either, but Kelsey was definitely interested. Maybe tomorrow, she said.
They had this really cool tree that looked like a wizard or troll, I took Kelsey’s pic by it, Jorden was being naughty at the time and was having a sit-down so he’s not in the photo =):
Next we walked through this really cool area that was like an old marketplace, like in India or Egypt or somewhere, it looked really neat. I just love all the themes like this.
As we were walking along we came upon this little talking fountain. We stopped to look at it and it started talking to Kelsey. I guess someone is around somewhere that is working it, it was cool. It first asked her name and where she was from. Then it asked her brothers name. Then it asked her and Jorden three skill-testing questions about Canada – province names, capital cities, that sort of thing – then it tells them very good for getting all the answers right and now they’d get their reward….and it starts a huge fountain of water and loudly playing “Oh Canada!” for a now-huge crowd. It was hilarious, and the kids loved it!
We continued along and came across a magnificent building. It was truly unbelievable, it was called Poseidon’s Fury. There was also a humongous arm holding a staff or triton made of rock. We went in, and sat in a looonnng wait for this ride inside in the cavernous lineup. But it turned out to bewell worth the wait, as it was a truly amazing show. During part of the show you walk through a spiral of water that is spiraling all around you, like walking through a tube of water. And the show at the end is spectacular, with fire and water and everything. I’d definitely recommend this ride!! We want to do it again for sure before we leave, but we still have four more days of tickets left for these parks!
We went next into Dr. Seuss area, which was totally neat. It was like being in Who-ville. The kids went on the three or four mellow “kiddie” type rides here, and we got their picture with the Grinch.
It was about 2:30, and we were all tired and HOT, and our feet were killing us, so we decided to return to the hotel and have a swim, relax a bit, do some laundry and then have some dinner before returning tonight for Halloween Fright Night. We began our walk back to the hotel, and Jorden really had trouble making it. It wasn’t that far of a walk at all, our hotel was basically right across the street, but after all the walking yesterday and today, and then walking all the way out of the park and to the entrance and to the street, he barely made it. We decided that for the remaining days we’d walk TO the park in the morning, and take a cab back home to the hotel.
After dinner and a swim, we drove back to Universal and paid for parking for the Fright Night. In hindsight, we really should have just gotten a cab. As soon as we entered the park, there were guys dressed up and made up all freaky that came out at you from the shadows and shook things in your face to scare you. We screamed and then laughed….but one of us wasn’t laughing. Unfortunately, poor Jorden wasn’t very impressed by the whole atmosphere of freaky, demonic type music, dry-ice clouds of smoke, laser beams of light, and people jumping out at him. He was scared. He wanted to leave. He was freaking out and one of the scary guys came over to tell him he was just a normal guy trying to scare him. He took off his mask even, to show Jorden and try to calm him down, which we thought was great. But it didn’t work. We managed to get Jorden in a little further, and John took him to the Spiderman ride while Kelsey and I checked out things a little further. After Spiderman, we took Jorden down to the Dr. Suess area, and Jorden didn’t want to leave this area where he felt safe. Poor guy was terrified, and really it was quite a scary place with all the ambiance they created. There were face lightening storms happening, freaky music, fog, the whole bit. But the Dr. Suess area seemed safe. So while John and him hung out here, Kelsey and I headed toward the haunted houses to get sceeered!!
We walked through what they call a “scare zone”…this was an area they made look like a freaky corn field. People looked like statues, then all of a sudden they would jump out at you. Then people would chase you with chainsaws, and freaky girls would scream and everything. It was amazing! Kelsey and I would get scared and scream our heads off, then laugh our heads off. It was so much fun. This is the only picture I got because I had to put my camera away because I nearly dropped it when a guy jumped out at me. I decided I better just leave it away!
We headed toward the haunted houses, and we stopped to ask directions from an employee. He told me to go to the best one, called the Castle of the Vampyrs. But he said the wait was 60 minutes right now, and it was on the other side of the park. I told him about Jorden and John waiting for us and Jorden being afraid, and that we didn’t want to stay away that long, so maybe we’d just go to one of the closer ones. Then he writes something down, and hands me a ticket that would get me to the front of the line in the express line! Cool! I thanked him profusely, and off we went. We had to go through another ‘scare zone” to get there, so we screamed and laughed some more!
We got to the haunted house, and only had to wait about 15 minutes before going in. This was awesome! There were all sorts of people all dressed up freakily jumping out at you inside. The worst one was when we climbed up these stairs and at the top we walk into this room and I looked to my right and all of a sudden this guy is coming at me with arms out wide and a big cape and he is flying in the air on a cable, and he flies straight at me almost inches to me, and I FLIPPED! I screamed LOUD and LONG and jumped about two feet up and two feet back. The group of people behind me almost peed their pants laughing so hard at me, and so did Kelsey.
It was a lot of fun, but we had to get back to Dad and Jorden. We found them in Dr. Seuss land. I sent John with Kelsey to check out the corn field. Then we decided to go as Jorden was still kind of freaked. It was too bad, I really would have liked to have seen more of the other haunted houses, but the lineups were also now an hour long at each one, and my feet were just too sore to do that much standing and so were Kelsey’s. Also, there was a LOT of young people drinking (the alcohol kind =) going on in the park now, and it was now 10:00 and some people were getting kind of loud, obnoxious, and belligerent in the lines and it was probably best if the kids just went back home to bed.
So that was it, it was a lot of fun, and I would definitely do it again. But not until Jorden’s a little older!
November 1st
Today we had our breakfast, and walked over to Universal. We started in universal Studios today. We got there right when it was opening, and it was going to be another hot day. Weatherman said it was going to be up to 87 today. When we got in, the kids wanted to start out with Men IN Black ride, so we walked all the way over there first, which was a long way. We were amazed right away at all the scenery and buildings, it was great how well done it was. I took some photos along the way.
MIB was really cool, alot like the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disney, but wayyy better.
When it was done, we rode it right away again since there were no lineups. After that, John and the kids rode Back to the Future, which is a simulator that I can’t ride (I’m motion sick…I’d hurl). We then decided just to meander our way through the park and ride all the rides along the way, and wait until tomorrow to see all the shows. We thought that since this was a Monday it probably would be less busy than any other day and so a good day to get the rides out of the way.
The first place we came to was Amity, like in Jaws. It looked so neat, and the kids almost were swallowed whole by Jaws itself:
We then rode the Jaws ride, which was fun except the fact that we got wet and we really didnt’ want to get wet. We especially didn’t want Jorden to get wet, because he already had a really bad heat rash between his legs from getting wet on the rides and then doing all this walking, and we knew that being wet would aggravate that.
We went from there to the Earthquake ride which was neat. Kelsey got to volunteer for the show and was tricked into getting a little wet. We laughed, we always get a bit of enjoyment out of seeing our kids get tricked! ha ha.
We then went to the Mummy Returns coaster, but at the last minute Jorden was too scared of the dark caverns inside and didnt’ want to ride, so I gladly agreed to wait outside with him as I was being recruited onto the ride against my will anyway! John and Kelsey loved it, and said it was no worse than Space Mountain, so Jorden and I decided to ride it, but by the the wait was 45 minutes long. We decided we’d just come there first thing tomorrow morning instead. We took our photos as pharoahs,
and then we went to the Twister ride, and that was really neat. Just when you think you are safe and won’t get wet, you do! It’s pretty neat, but I was more scared in that storm back in Texas! After Twister, we sat down to eat some of our brought-in food and snacks, have some water, and I took some photos of the left-over Halloween spooky props that weren’t so spooky in the daylight.
We then went to the Shrek 4D ride, which is seemed better here than in Universal Hollywood. In fact, EVERYTHING here seemed way better than at Universal Hollywood. We were quie impressed with this park and we think we even like it more than Disney now! It just seems a lot more exciting, maybe it’s that our kids are getting older now.
After Shrek, we did some Nickolodean rides, and by then Jorden was starting to limp and walk bow-legged due to his painful heat rash, the poor guy. I thought we should just leave at that point since we were at the exit, even thought it was only 2pm, but Jorden really wanted to go on the ET ride. So we walked (Jorden limped) over to it and it was worth it, it was cool. After that, we decided to return to our hotel so Jorden could hang out in the buff for awhile and “air out” his rash.
We grabbed a cab and back at the hotel John took the kids for a swim. I prepared our stuff and packed it all up while they swam because tomorrow we were changing hotels to the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird. We’ll arrange tomorrow for late checkout to accomodate our hotel changeover, or perhaps a courtesy suite for our luggage. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.
November 2nd
Today we were changing hotels. We woke up around 7am, and went out to the hotel breaky. Kelsey actually decided to eat something this morning! She’s such a picker sometimes, and every morning so far at the free hotel breakfast she’ll take a couple bites of cereal and say it tastes wierd, then she’ll make a bagel and eat a few bites and say she doesn’t like it, then she’ll bite into a donut and say it’s too sweet, then she’ll say she’s not hungry anymore….argh! Then she’s hungry when we get to the parks where food costs a million dollars. The thing with Kelsey is not really that she’s a picky eater so much, it’s just that she gets grossed out really easily, and if there’s any kind of mixture of smells, sights, or any kind of disorientation at all she just can’t eat. I think at the hotel it was just that it was out in the lobby, the food was different, it was all in wierd containers, and she was just all weirded out about it. I guess she finally got used to it because this morning she finally ate half a bagel, a full bowl of frosted flakes, a tub of yogurt and a little donut. When she wants to, she can pack it away for a little girl! And Jorden, well he has no trouble at all, put it in front of him and he’ll eat it, or at least he’ll try it! In fact, we have to STOP that boy from eating too much!
After breaky we packed everything up in the van. We are getting better at packing this stuff up everytime we do it. We drove over to Universal and parked in the lot there. A couple of things we really like about Universal over Disney were the people-movers and the fans/misters. The people movers were great, instead of having to walk so far, you just jumped on the moving people-mover and it carried you along. After four straight days of walking for 8 hours straight you really appreciated this! and the fans/misters were awesome when you were just cooking from the sun. You’d be in a lineup, and the big fans would be roaring at you to keep you cool, with mist flying on you as well. And there were mist machine areas where you could mist yourself and get wet to keep cool as well. This was great.
We went straight to The Mummy today. Let me tell you, this ride is awesome. It is a coaster and a 3d ride at the same time, and it is just terrific. We rode it twice, then I had to rest or hurl, so the kids and John went on again while I waited. We then went over to ride Men in Black again. You keep score on MIB, and being a competitive family, we went on a few more times trying to beat each others scores. I ended up being the all time winner!
John and the kids then rode Back to the Future again, and then we decided to spend the rest of the day seeing the shows, they have a lot of live shows. We saw Animal Planet live, which has live animals that do a variety of tricks that were really neat, including trained cats, birds, dogs, ducks, and monkeys. This was right up Kelsey’s alley. She absolutely loves animals of any and every variety, and wants to own one of any and every variety. So she was so thrilled with the Animal Planet show. Jorden, on the other hand, enjoyed the horror makeup show we saw next where they show you how they do all the gory makup in the shows. He also loved the Nick Live show we saw next, which was funny, his only regret was not being able to be the one who got the pie in his face. Then we did some other rides again like Twister, Earthquake, and The Mummy again. By now it was 2pm and it was really hot. Although it was early, the kids really wanted to go to our new hotel, and we had to go shopping too for some more food snacks, water, and some other supplies we’d need, so we all decided to go ride ET one more time and then head out. ET is a cool ride, it’s especially neat how they take your name down in the beginning, and then at th end of the ride ET says goodbye as you go past and he says your name!
We got back to our van, and let me tell you, my feet and legs felt like they were going to fall off. All this walking was killing me! I wanted to take a day off, but our Universal passes were 5 day passes, and they had to be used on 5 consecutive days, so we couldn’t just take off a day. Too bad! We found our hotel without too much trouble, the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird. It is only about a mile from the main gates of Disney. We checked in and went to our room and were pleased to find the room had this cool little separator in it with a little kids area. It made kind of a little fort for the kids, with a bunkbed, and a smaller little bed, and a TV, all inside this separator and curtain. The kids think it is great, and so do us adults!!
We unpacked our stuff into the room, and then we headed off to Walmart and Domino’s for dinner and shopping. When we got back, the kids and I went for a swim and a jacuzzi. Then it was back to the hotel room for bed for them, work for me. Tomorrow we’ll do Universal again, we’ll start out at Islands of Adventure this time. I’m trying to convice everyone we don’t have to spend that fifth day there at Universal, that we can relax and spend a day at our hotel instead since we’ve seen the whole park anyway, but they don’t seem convinced. Man, I can’t wait to get to Playa so I can relax on the beach for a few days instead of GO GO GO everyday in the parks! =)