lookingforward
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2001
Mom-40
boys 8 & 10
Day 2: Woke up early and had a quick bite to eat in the club lounge HRH. Went for opening of Universal Studios. Quite the crowd had assembled and were anxious to enter. Opened the gates promptly at 9 a.m. Since we had FOTL we took our time and it was a great thing not to be running to the rides and express ticket machines. Went first to Hanna Barbara ride, it was so cute. My 8 year old really liked this one, 10 year old was a bit "jaded" and said it was "okay". I really liked this ride! We went to Twister. They did not have FOTL access open yet, but the wait was minimal. This was alot of fun, but we got wet as we stood in the last row.
**One thing I noticed at Universal was that for the first hour and a half the park was open the FOTL access entrances were not all open and there were not employees out front to direct people. This was not a big problem but if it were more crowded it would have been.
My boys wanted to skip Nickelodean because they saw it last time. We made our way to King Kong. FOTL was open for this but when we took the elevator to the loading dock there was no employee there and you are on the other side of the tracks from the regular line. We stood there for a few minutes trying not to look silly and then went back down. The employee told us he would radio up to the loading area and told us to go back up. We did and there was someone waiting for us. This ride is, in my opinion, a lot of fun. Last time we went my 8 year old was 4 years old and was so scared of it that I hesitated to do it this time. However, four years is a long time and he thought it was a hoot. He did not believe that it ever scared him, deny, deny, deny! Of course his 10 year old brother did not hesitate to remind him about how much he carried on!
We went on to Earthquake. Having read Kelly's book I knew to place my kids in front of the podium to get the best chance of being selected for the screen test. My 10 year old got selected and had a blast. Of course my other son was dissapointed so we went back for another go at it. Again no wait, and this time I asked the employee who "casted" the "movie" if he could pick the kid in the red t-shirt. He was SOOOO nice, even placed my son on the side of the podium and he was selected. Now everyone was happy! The second time around we sat mid train and got a much better view of the earthquake damage. Of course, now my boys want a "show biz" career and since I worked in both casting and with a talent agency, I am busy "deprogramming" them from that idea!
Jaws was a great favorite with us. By the time we made our way there a huge line had formed. When we got to the Express entrance a women was screaming at an employee because he told her that wheelchairs must wait in the regular line and could not use express. He stated that there was enough room for the wheelchairs in the regular line. She was so mad, I felt sorry for both of them. I think he should have let her through, but she had about twenty people in her group and I think he was following the rules. She was loud and stormed off. We entered and kept walking, walking, walking, etc. by people who would have to wait 60 minutes. It took us exactly (well I wasn't timing it...) about four minutes. My boys loved this one because of the "grenade launchers", the more fire power the better!
Next we went to Back to the Future. Express entrance was great, waited about 15 minutes for this one, but we loved it.
On to MIB. What can I say, it was a little boys dream! Of course, I scored the lowest, a dismal 20,000 or so. (my gun was malfunctioning....thats my story and I am sticking to it!) We rode this one five, FIVE, times. Sorry to say but each time we went through the express line we passed the same people waiting. They were not too happy! My older son was bragging about his high score, 140,000 + thousand.My 8 year old was totally ticked off about it. However, on the last go he got the bonus 100,000 at the end and his brother did not, so he WON one! My 10 year old does not believe that this board's moderator got over 400,000. It was so much fun!
We saw the Make-up show, it was really funny with a lot of political humor. (lets just say that the hosts are democrats) so I really enjoyed it! The audience must have been republicans though, because only a few of us were laughing! I even started to clap for one joke but my son flashed me the "STOP embarrasing me PLEASEEEE!" look.
Terminator was great but we sat in the last row and the 3-D effects were not as good there.
We had lunch in Amityville. The fried fish counter near jaws had good food. One warning..the fried shrimp baskets $9.00 are SPICY fried shrimp. This was not marked on their menu and I have a very sensitive stomach. I did much better with the chicken, but my boys liked the spicy shrimp. Two shrimp and chicked boats with fries, one cup of chowder (not very good chowder) and sodas was $35.
My sons played a few games. My 10 year old tried the basket ball game and won. $5 for a large animal and it was LARGE. He picked the shaggy dog which was bigger than my 8 year old, ha ha. They had it send to the hotel so we did not have to lug it around since it would have needed its own admission pass! My 8 year old won the squirt gun race and got a miss piggy for his little sister (home with grandma).
We then went on to IOA for the afternoon with dinner at Citywalk. I will try to write about that tonight.
boys 8 & 10
Day 2: Woke up early and had a quick bite to eat in the club lounge HRH. Went for opening of Universal Studios. Quite the crowd had assembled and were anxious to enter. Opened the gates promptly at 9 a.m. Since we had FOTL we took our time and it was a great thing not to be running to the rides and express ticket machines. Went first to Hanna Barbara ride, it was so cute. My 8 year old really liked this one, 10 year old was a bit "jaded" and said it was "okay". I really liked this ride! We went to Twister. They did not have FOTL access open yet, but the wait was minimal. This was alot of fun, but we got wet as we stood in the last row.
**One thing I noticed at Universal was that for the first hour and a half the park was open the FOTL access entrances were not all open and there were not employees out front to direct people. This was not a big problem but if it were more crowded it would have been.
My boys wanted to skip Nickelodean because they saw it last time. We made our way to King Kong. FOTL was open for this but when we took the elevator to the loading dock there was no employee there and you are on the other side of the tracks from the regular line. We stood there for a few minutes trying not to look silly and then went back down. The employee told us he would radio up to the loading area and told us to go back up. We did and there was someone waiting for us. This ride is, in my opinion, a lot of fun. Last time we went my 8 year old was 4 years old and was so scared of it that I hesitated to do it this time. However, four years is a long time and he thought it was a hoot. He did not believe that it ever scared him, deny, deny, deny! Of course his 10 year old brother did not hesitate to remind him about how much he carried on!
We went on to Earthquake. Having read Kelly's book I knew to place my kids in front of the podium to get the best chance of being selected for the screen test. My 10 year old got selected and had a blast. Of course my other son was dissapointed so we went back for another go at it. Again no wait, and this time I asked the employee who "casted" the "movie" if he could pick the kid in the red t-shirt. He was SOOOO nice, even placed my son on the side of the podium and he was selected. Now everyone was happy! The second time around we sat mid train and got a much better view of the earthquake damage. Of course, now my boys want a "show biz" career and since I worked in both casting and with a talent agency, I am busy "deprogramming" them from that idea!
Jaws was a great favorite with us. By the time we made our way there a huge line had formed. When we got to the Express entrance a women was screaming at an employee because he told her that wheelchairs must wait in the regular line and could not use express. He stated that there was enough room for the wheelchairs in the regular line. She was so mad, I felt sorry for both of them. I think he should have let her through, but she had about twenty people in her group and I think he was following the rules. She was loud and stormed off. We entered and kept walking, walking, walking, etc. by people who would have to wait 60 minutes. It took us exactly (well I wasn't timing it...) about four minutes. My boys loved this one because of the "grenade launchers", the more fire power the better!
Next we went to Back to the Future. Express entrance was great, waited about 15 minutes for this one, but we loved it.
On to MIB. What can I say, it was a little boys dream! Of course, I scored the lowest, a dismal 20,000 or so. (my gun was malfunctioning....thats my story and I am sticking to it!) We rode this one five, FIVE, times. Sorry to say but each time we went through the express line we passed the same people waiting. They were not too happy! My older son was bragging about his high score, 140,000 + thousand.My 8 year old was totally ticked off about it. However, on the last go he got the bonus 100,000 at the end and his brother did not, so he WON one! My 10 year old does not believe that this board's moderator got over 400,000. It was so much fun!
We saw the Make-up show, it was really funny with a lot of political humor. (lets just say that the hosts are democrats) so I really enjoyed it! The audience must have been republicans though, because only a few of us were laughing! I even started to clap for one joke but my son flashed me the "STOP embarrasing me PLEASEEEE!" look.
Terminator was great but we sat in the last row and the 3-D effects were not as good there.
We had lunch in Amityville. The fried fish counter near jaws had good food. One warning..the fried shrimp baskets $9.00 are SPICY fried shrimp. This was not marked on their menu and I have a very sensitive stomach. I did much better with the chicken, but my boys liked the spicy shrimp. Two shrimp and chicked boats with fries, one cup of chowder (not very good chowder) and sodas was $35.
My sons played a few games. My 10 year old tried the basket ball game and won. $5 for a large animal and it was LARGE. He picked the shaggy dog which was bigger than my 8 year old, ha ha. They had it send to the hotel so we did not have to lug it around since it would have needed its own admission pass! My 8 year old won the squirt gun race and got a miss piggy for his little sister (home with grandma).
We then went on to IOA for the afternoon with dinner at Citywalk. I will try to write about that tonight.
