Friday, June 30, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
My Birthday trip to Universal.
Today is my birthday and I just got back from Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. My plan was to spend 2 days riding roller coasters at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure as many times as possible. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans.
We arrived in Orlando early Friday evening (June 23rd) and after checking in at the Travelodge - International Drive we went over to City Walk for dinner and a movie. We had a great dinner at Margaritaville and saw The Omen 666. While waiting for our table we picked up a couple of rum runners from Margaritaville's outdoor drink window. After being seated I decided I wasn't really happy with my drink so I gave it to Tom and ordered a (much better) "Don't Stop the Carnival" strawberry, banana, mango daiquiri. I had the Cuban Meatloaf Survival sandwich and fries for dinner and it was sooooo good. I wish now I had gone back for another one before we left. Tom had the Bayou shrimp pasta and practically licked his plate clean.
I thought they did a really good job on the remake of The Omen. The kid was creepy enough and Mia Farrow was great as the nanny.
After the movie we headed back to the hotel because we had an early start ahead of us on Saturday.
The next day we started out at 8:00 am and went to Universal first. We did the Shrek 4-D show first because Tom hadn't seen it and if you don't do it early you'll spend half your day in line for it later. Another thing you need to do early is Jaws. Lines get really long later in the day for that one. I talked Tom into riding Revenge of the Mummy with me once. We did MIB: Alien Attack... I love that ride! Twister is still great too... we also caught the Fear Factor Live show.
We started to get hungry in the afternoon and decided to head over to Islands and grab a sandwich at Blondie's. But first I had to stop by and visit my old friend the Incredible Hulk. So I run over to the single rider line and after a few technical difficulties (a small rain shower) I finally got to ride my favorite coaster. I had a turkey sandwich for lunch that was really good and Tom had the Dagwood... he was not impressed. Said it was only a so-so sandwich... nothing to write home about.
And then it happened...
Monsoon!!!
It started pouring at around 2:30 while we were having lunch. Thunder and lightning like crazy! After we finished eating we RAN over to a gift shop across the "street" from Blondie's and I bought us a couple of ponchos. We decided then it was probably a good idea to head back over to the theater and catch another movie. We hoped by the time it was over the rain would have stopped and we could get back to business... roller coaster business!
But... we picked a really bad movie... Cars. Normally I like those Pixar animated movies but I just couldn't get into this one. Maybe the fact that I REALLY don't like NASCAR had something to do with it. I was also freezing because my clothes were soaked and the theater had their air conditioner on full blast. We ended up leaving not long after the movie started and went back to the hotel to change clothes.
A couple hours later it stopped raining and we went back to the park until closing time. We stood in line way too long for the new High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride, but it was cute and I told Tom that if we got there early enough the next day I would like to ride it again because it's actually 2 rides that go on separate tracks around different parts of the park.
We had a great dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe Saturday night. I had their ribs and chicken combo with Joe's Bloody Mary (made with Joe Perry's Mango Peach Tango hot sauce) and Tom had a NY Strip.
Then it was back to the hotel we go...
Sunday's forecast wasn't looking so good. On Saturday it had been a 40% chance of rain and we got a monsoon... Sunday's was 60%...
So we packed up the ponchos and got another early start on Sunday. This time we went to Islands first and rode the Amazing Adventures of Spider-man first. When we came out it was drizzling rain a little so we figured since we were going to get wet anyway we might as well ride Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. No one else was there so we had the boat to ourselves... and when the ride was over and we were thoroughly soaked, the guy on the dock asked if we wanted to go again... so of course we did... and again... we rode 3 times in a row before we had enough. Next we went back to Seuss' Landing to ride the trolley again... I don't envy whoever had to sit in our soggy seats on the next ride.
I rode Dueling Dragons next... Fire first, then Ice. I still prefer Fire... it seems to be a much smoother ride.
We got tired of the soaking wet clothes and each bought a pair of new shorts to change into and decided to go over to Universal for a while. We rented a locker for our wet clothes and started making the rounds. We did the single rider line for MIB a couple times and I got my highest score yet: 469,975! Yay! I took a solo ride on the Mummy and we cooled off on the ET Adventure. We watched the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue show and it was great. I don't know why I'd never done that before...
After that we went back to Islands because I really wanted to ride the Hulk coaster again. I told Tom I expected it to start raining at any time because we had put the ponchos in the locker over at Universal. Unfortunately when we got there the Hulk coaster had been shut down again... it seems there was lightning in the area or something...so I went back to Spider-man. Then we walked back over to the Lost Continent area to see if the Dragons were running... no luck. So we walked over to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center and sat down for a while watching in the direction of the Hulk. A little while later it started running again so we started to go back over... Tom decided to wait for me in the Lost Continent because we had a 6:00 reservation at Mythos, and I figured I had just enough time to run over, ride Hulk, and run back before dinner. WRONG! I get to Hulk, call Tom on the cell to let him know I'm in line, get to the point in the line where the Express Pass people go one way and single riders go the other way when the guy there tells me they aren't taking single riders. Then I hear the "technical difficulties" thing again... it's POURING again and I'm on the opposite side of the park from Tom and Mythos. I call Tom back and tell him what he already knows... no Hulk for me. At this point I'm pretty pissed so I take off my socks and put them in my pockets (because I do NOT want to walk around in wet socks twice in one day) take off my T-shirt (no you pervs... I had on a tank top under it) and rolled it up tight. I want to try to keep it as dry as possible. I stick the T-shirt ball under my tank and take off running through our second monsoon of the weekend. I stopped off at Mythos on the way and cancelled our reservation because at this point I am just NOT in the mood and they thanked me for letting them know. I guess a lot of people just don't show up. I make it back to Tom and we sit there a bit waiting for the rain to stop. *sigh* At least I had a partially dry shirt to put on.
After the rain eased up a little we decided to call it a day. I had a couple stops to make... Vera wanted another bottle of Joe Perry's Mango Peach Tango sauce from the Hard Rock and I had to go back to Universal to get our stuff from the locker.
So we went back to the room... changed clothes again and went out for dinner. That was a whole other nightmare... all I can say is AVOID Sizzler on International Drive on Sunday night!
Now I'm back in Miami hoping to get back to Universal before the end of the year and hoping for better weather when I do get there...
Don't get me wrong... I had fun. Just not as much fun as I had hoped for.
Till next time...
We arrived in Orlando early Friday evening (June 23rd) and after checking in at the Travelodge - International Drive we went over to City Walk for dinner and a movie. We had a great dinner at Margaritaville and saw The Omen 666. While waiting for our table we picked up a couple of rum runners from Margaritaville's outdoor drink window. After being seated I decided I wasn't really happy with my drink so I gave it to Tom and ordered a (much better) "Don't Stop the Carnival" strawberry, banana, mango daiquiri. I had the Cuban Meatloaf Survival sandwich and fries for dinner and it was sooooo good. I wish now I had gone back for another one before we left. Tom had the Bayou shrimp pasta and practically licked his plate clean.
I thought they did a really good job on the remake of The Omen. The kid was creepy enough and Mia Farrow was great as the nanny.
After the movie we headed back to the hotel because we had an early start ahead of us on Saturday.
The next day we started out at 8:00 am and went to Universal first. We did the Shrek 4-D show first because Tom hadn't seen it and if you don't do it early you'll spend half your day in line for it later. Another thing you need to do early is Jaws. Lines get really long later in the day for that one. I talked Tom into riding Revenge of the Mummy with me once. We did MIB: Alien Attack... I love that ride! Twister is still great too... we also caught the Fear Factor Live show.
We started to get hungry in the afternoon and decided to head over to Islands and grab a sandwich at Blondie's. But first I had to stop by and visit my old friend the Incredible Hulk. So I run over to the single rider line and after a few technical difficulties (a small rain shower) I finally got to ride my favorite coaster. I had a turkey sandwich for lunch that was really good and Tom had the Dagwood... he was not impressed. Said it was only a so-so sandwich... nothing to write home about.
And then it happened...
Monsoon!!!
It started pouring at around 2:30 while we were having lunch. Thunder and lightning like crazy! After we finished eating we RAN over to a gift shop across the "street" from Blondie's and I bought us a couple of ponchos. We decided then it was probably a good idea to head back over to the theater and catch another movie. We hoped by the time it was over the rain would have stopped and we could get back to business... roller coaster business!
But... we picked a really bad movie... Cars. Normally I like those Pixar animated movies but I just couldn't get into this one. Maybe the fact that I REALLY don't like NASCAR had something to do with it. I was also freezing because my clothes were soaked and the theater had their air conditioner on full blast. We ended up leaving not long after the movie started and went back to the hotel to change clothes.
A couple hours later it stopped raining and we went back to the park until closing time. We stood in line way too long for the new High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride, but it was cute and I told Tom that if we got there early enough the next day I would like to ride it again because it's actually 2 rides that go on separate tracks around different parts of the park.
We had a great dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe Saturday night. I had their ribs and chicken combo with Joe's Bloody Mary (made with Joe Perry's Mango Peach Tango hot sauce) and Tom had a NY Strip.
Then it was back to the hotel we go...
Sunday's forecast wasn't looking so good. On Saturday it had been a 40% chance of rain and we got a monsoon... Sunday's was 60%...
So we packed up the ponchos and got another early start on Sunday. This time we went to Islands first and rode the Amazing Adventures of Spider-man first. When we came out it was drizzling rain a little so we figured since we were going to get wet anyway we might as well ride Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. No one else was there so we had the boat to ourselves... and when the ride was over and we were thoroughly soaked, the guy on the dock asked if we wanted to go again... so of course we did... and again... we rode 3 times in a row before we had enough. Next we went back to Seuss' Landing to ride the trolley again... I don't envy whoever had to sit in our soggy seats on the next ride.
I rode Dueling Dragons next... Fire first, then Ice. I still prefer Fire... it seems to be a much smoother ride.
We got tired of the soaking wet clothes and each bought a pair of new shorts to change into and decided to go over to Universal for a while. We rented a locker for our wet clothes and started making the rounds. We did the single rider line for MIB a couple times and I got my highest score yet: 469,975! Yay! I took a solo ride on the Mummy and we cooled off on the ET Adventure. We watched the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue show and it was great. I don't know why I'd never done that before...
After that we went back to Islands because I really wanted to ride the Hulk coaster again. I told Tom I expected it to start raining at any time because we had put the ponchos in the locker over at Universal. Unfortunately when we got there the Hulk coaster had been shut down again... it seems there was lightning in the area or something...so I went back to Spider-man. Then we walked back over to the Lost Continent area to see if the Dragons were running... no luck. So we walked over to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center and sat down for a while watching in the direction of the Hulk. A little while later it started running again so we started to go back over... Tom decided to wait for me in the Lost Continent because we had a 6:00 reservation at Mythos, and I figured I had just enough time to run over, ride Hulk, and run back before dinner. WRONG! I get to Hulk, call Tom on the cell to let him know I'm in line, get to the point in the line where the Express Pass people go one way and single riders go the other way when the guy there tells me they aren't taking single riders. Then I hear the "technical difficulties" thing again... it's POURING again and I'm on the opposite side of the park from Tom and Mythos. I call Tom back and tell him what he already knows... no Hulk for me. At this point I'm pretty pissed so I take off my socks and put them in my pockets (because I do NOT want to walk around in wet socks twice in one day) take off my T-shirt (no you pervs... I had on a tank top under it) and rolled it up tight. I want to try to keep it as dry as possible. I stick the T-shirt ball under my tank and take off running through our second monsoon of the weekend. I stopped off at Mythos on the way and cancelled our reservation because at this point I am just NOT in the mood and they thanked me for letting them know. I guess a lot of people just don't show up. I make it back to Tom and we sit there a bit waiting for the rain to stop. *sigh* At least I had a partially dry shirt to put on.
After the rain eased up a little we decided to call it a day. I had a couple stops to make... Vera wanted another bottle of Joe Perry's Mango Peach Tango sauce from the Hard Rock and I had to go back to Universal to get our stuff from the locker.
So we went back to the room... changed clothes again and went out for dinner. That was a whole other nightmare... all I can say is AVOID Sizzler on International Drive on Sunday night!
Now I'm back in Miami hoping to get back to Universal before the end of the year and hoping for better weather when I do get there...
Don't get me wrong... I had fun. Just not as much fun as I had hoped for.
Till next time...
Thursday, June 22, 2006
1 more day!!!
By this time tomorrow we should be on the road to Orlando. I'm so excited!
Since buying my 2 park preferred annual pass I keep getting invited to all sorts of sneak previews at the parks. Unfortunately they are for times I'm NOT going to be in Orlando.
The first was a preview of the new ride in Seuss' Landing: The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!™ The preview was last weekend.
Today I got an invitation to be one of the first to see the new UNIVERSAL 360 Cinesphere Spectacular. That one is next weekend.
We're going THIS weekend.
Oh well... maybe next time.
Since buying my 2 park preferred annual pass I keep getting invited to all sorts of sneak previews at the parks. Unfortunately they are for times I'm NOT going to be in Orlando.
The first was a preview of the new ride in Seuss' Landing: The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!™ The preview was last weekend.
Today I got an invitation to be one of the first to see the new UNIVERSAL 360 Cinesphere Spectacular. That one is next weekend.
We're going THIS weekend.
Oh well... maybe next time.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Happy Birthday to me!
I quit smoking the week of my birthday (June 26th) 2002, but apparently I'm on Marlboro's mailing list for life...
When I smoked, I never got anything much from them. Now that I've quit I get stuff all the time... mostly coupons, but today I got a gift.
It's a bottle opener that's about the size of a credit card. It's made to fit in a wallet... it's kinda neat I guess. Though I haven't actually opened a bottle with it yet, so I don't know if it works or not.
I see that quite a few people are selling them on eBay... I don't know what they think they'll get for them... so far the highest bid is 99 cents.
When I smoked, I never got anything much from them. Now that I've quit I get stuff all the time... mostly coupons, but today I got a gift.
It's a bottle opener that's about the size of a credit card. It's made to fit in a wallet... it's kinda neat I guess. Though I haven't actually opened a bottle with it yet, so I don't know if it works or not.
I see that quite a few people are selling them on eBay... I don't know what they think they'll get for them... so far the highest bid is 99 cents.
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