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...

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.

Universal Orlando & MGM - 03/21/06

On Tuesday Vera was feeling sick again and wanted to sleep in. So it's back to Universal for me and Steven. She told us if she felt better in the afternoon she would pick us up because we had actually planned to spend the day at MGM.

Our first stop was Universal and MIB. Steven was on a mission to break the 400,000 point barrier that he had come so close to the day before. It happened on our 2nd and again on our 3rd ride. 449,350 was his top score for the day... his next goal is to break 500,000.

We ended up spending 4 hours at Universal and Islands. She called to say she was on her way not long after we got SOAKED on the Bilge-Rat Barges again. Uh oh! We did get a chance to dry off a bit on the Ice dragon before she picked us up though.

So we're off to MGM and the Rockin Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. It had been quite a few years since we'd been to that park and ridden on what used to be our favorite coaster. Boy were we in for a surprise. I don't know if it was the coaster or us, but we seemed to be moving really SLOW. Maybe it's just that we have been riding the faster coasters at Universal so much this week... but it just wasn't as much fun as we remembered. We gave it one more shot with our fast pass... but it just wasn't as thrilling as it used to be.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is really cool though. I think we got about 7 rides in on that one before the park closed. It's alot better and more scary than it was the last time I was at MGM. Now you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes it starts out dropping you, sometimes it pulls you up first.. it may drop you 3 floors or 1 at a time... it's different every time. Very cool... and Steven actually talked me into letting go of the hand-holds the last few times we rode. It's a very strange feeling just kind of hovering there out of your seat for what seems like an eternity. I keep forgetting to scan our picture... I gotta do that tomorrow...

This was our last night in Orlando. The next day I had to make that long sad bus trip back to Miami... we're planning another trip together in the fall... I can't wait! I really miss getting to spend time with Steven since I moved to Miami so I'm always planning the next trip as soon as the last one is over.

Universal Orlando - 03/20/06

On Monday Vera felt up to joining us at the parks. We decided to hit Islands first and head straight for the Hulk. It's such a cool coaster, and a really smooth ride. This ride has a total of seven inversions and two subterranean trenches and all in 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Next we headed for The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride. It was the first ever combination of moving, motion-based ride vehicles, 3-D film and live action. It's totally cool.

Dueling Dragons: The Fire dragon and Ice dragon are both equally cool. I personally think the Ice coaster is a smoother ride than Fire. Fire seems to be a much more scary ride for me because while on it I can see more of Ice than the other way around. Each dragon's 2-minute and 25-second flight includes several inversions, including a zero-g roll, a Cobra roll, two corkscrews, and two vertical loops.

Now it's time to head back to Universal. We had lunch at the Monster Cafe, more MIB training, more mummies, tornados, and JAWS!

We actually made it to the park closing this time. We were in pretty bad shape by the time we got back to the hotel. This theme park life can be rough...

Universal Orlando - 03/19/06

On Sunday the 19th, Vera was sick so it was up to me and Steven to tackle the parks alone. We got up in time to catch the hotel's shuttle to Universal and were on our way at 7:45 am. After making numerous stops at other hotels we finally made it to the entrance gates at around 8:30... unfortunately the parks don't open until 9:00. So we wait...



We had lots of fun on our first full day there. I talked Steven into using the single rider line so we could ride faster. We ended up riding together all but one time anyway. Gotta love that single rider line. Universal Studios was our first stop. Men In Black: Alien Attack is our favorite ride at Universal. The Revenge of the Mummy is very cool. Speaking of cool... ET's Adventure is a great ride to cool off from the hot Florida sun. Twister is also good for that.

We had a great lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then headed for Islands. We went to Dueling Dragons first, then thought better of it... we really weren't interested in losing our lunches so we decided to come back for that later. Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges... we got SOAKED. It was alot of fun though... but did I mention we got soaked? It was nothing that a quick trip on Spider-Man and Hulk wouldn't cure though...

We were pretty tired and since we still had 2 more days to go and weren't in any big hurry we decided to head back to the hotel early. We left the park at 5:00, but weren't sure what time the shuttle would be there to take us to the hotel. I knew there was a 6:15 and 7:15 but wasn't sure about an earlier one. So we decided to walk over to the drop-off point and if it wasn't there by 5:15, we would go back to the park and stay until closing. Luckily it was already there waiting for us. At the hotel we sat by the pool for a little while to cool our tired feet, and then played some video games at the hotel arcade.

Bedtime... got another early start ahead of us tomorrow...

Universal Orlando - 03/18/06

On March 18th I took a trip to Orlando, FL to meet up with my sister and nephew and spend a few days at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

My vacation began at 7:05 am on a Greyhound bus in Miami. Not my favorite way to start a vacation but on this trip it wasn't so bad. The worst part was the 20.00 cab ride from the bus station to the hotel. Ouch!

I arrived in Orlando at the Rodeway Inn International at around 1:00 pm and since Vera and Steven were still quite a few hours away I decided to head on over to Universal to pick up my season pass and get my picture taken. It actually turned out to be a good thing that I did since it took almost 2 hours just to get the pass and picture done. It was extremely busy at the park that day because Universal is celebrating Mardi Gras every Saturday in February, March and April.

By 3:00 I was ready to start having fun. I got in line for The Incredible Hulk Coaster and after about 30 minutes they started announcing "technical difficulties". After about 15 minutes of hearing that announcement I decided to head over to The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride. I've got 4 days to catch up with the Hulk, so I'm in no hurry...

This was my first time at a theme park alone so I had forgotten that Universal and Islands had single rider lines with much shorter wait times. I realized it only after I had been in the Spider-Man line for 30 minutes. Oh well... next time I'll know. So immediately after finishing the first ride I skipped on through the single rider line and 5 minutes later I was riding again. MUCH better than waiting 45 minutes the first time... trust me, no matter how fun a ride is... nothing is fun enough to wait 45 minutes for.

So I spent a couple hours at Islands then went over to Universal for a while. I had dinner at The Monster Cafe and hit some more rides. Men In Black is always fun, and The Revenge of the Mummy is really cool. The park closed at 8:00 that night so I started heading for the taxi area around 7:30 and was back at the hotel pretty quick. I relaxed for a bit while I waited for Vera and Steven to show up. They arrived at around 10:30 and soon we got to bed so we could get an early start on Sunday.