Universal Movie Marathon PTR ...IS NOW A TRIP REPORT

Just got the last of the packing done. Goal is to leave by 6 am tomorrow. :cool1:

I just read that they started soft openings for Transformers!!!! Of course I also saw that there was a 90 minute wait. Have I yet to mention how much I hate to wait in line. :furious: It will be interesting to see how I handle this trip without fastpass. That is one of the things I like about Disney is that I know how to avoid lines. Which brings me to another issue. I have my IoA plan worked out but I am a little lost regarding US. I am thinking doing Despicable Me first as that is something that I know everyone will want to do. Any other thoughts? Normally I would say Rip Rocket but like I said I think it will be just DS and either his dad or I that will be daring enough.

Night all! :drive:
 
Oh Nancy your Hedwig has disappeared from your ticker! How exciting! I am very jealous! I hope you have a fabulous time, and I hope your dd feels fine and isn't slowed down by the antibiotics. (I agree that it's good luck--if it's coming, best to know about it and head it off.)
 
We had a great time. :cool1::cool1::cool1: Now for the trip report. Let's see if I can remember everything.

We left at 5:55 am...a whopping five minutes ahead of schedule. We took our traditional "We are leaving for vacation!!!!" photo.



DH is one of those people that does not like to stop. I think I made it a total of 4 hours without a bathroom break. This is a record for me. We packed lunches and ate in the car. We made good time and I called and changed our reservations for just outside Atlanta to just outside Macon.

We did stop just outside Atlanta for dinner at Golden Corral. We were starved after only eating small sandwiches and snacks all day. I think it was around 6:30. It was a good buffet and hit the spot. There was something for everyone. If you ever need a good place to stop off I-75 in the Atlanta area I recommend Exit 221. I only remember the exit number because we debated on if we should stop there or exit 118 which was where our original hotel was located. We were so hungry that we didn't think we could make it to the next exit. LOL!

Here is DS eating the cotton candy that was on the dessert side of the buffet. They also had a chocolate fountain. YUM!



We made it to our hotel very tired. We stated at Comfort Suites in Bryon, GA. It was a nice clean hotel with a pull out sofa so it could accommodate a family of 5 easily.

We had noticed a peach stand near the exit so we decided to stop before getting on the highway again. We got a bag of peaches and Frog Jam which I had never heard of before. It was quite tasty although probably will not seek it out. It is fig, raspberry and ginger jam. It had a little too much fig for me. I did enjoy it on an English muffin while in Florida and did not have enough leftover to bring any home.



We just stopped at gas station that had a Subway and Dairy Queen for lunch. DS was craving some curly fries from Arby's which was across the street. We still needed gas so DH got gas there and we waited and waited and waited for DS to get his fries. The entire time the drive thru is empty. I finally call to see if he had placed his order. He hadn't so we had him come out and did the drive thru. 30 seconds later he had his fries. :sad2: DS said there was drama happening in the back. We were on our way again.

I can't remember if we took this before or after lunch.



:cool1::cool1::cool1:
 


We arrived in Orlando at about 4 pm which worked out perfectly for two reasons...1. Our check in was at 4:00. 2. We had finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban about an hour prior to this which gave us time to listen to the mix cd as we were arriving. :thumbsup2

We rented a condo through HomeAway.com. I was a little nervous as I had never done this before. I must say I was quite pleased. Here are our photos before we messed it up:










It even came with our own copy of this:



If you are ever interested in renting this condo here is the link:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p145720

It is perfect for a Universal/ Sea World vacation. It was a quick ten minute drive straight down Universal Blvd to get to US and Wet N Wild with very little traffic. It really worked out nicely. We also found Sea World on our first night and it is also close. There is a Publix less than a block away and a Walgreens on sight. Sorry no pictures of the pool but it was your average pool. No special slides or anything. Another great feature for this particular condo was that it was just around the corner from the pool but not over looking the pool. Not overlooking the pool was a good thing in that we didn't hear people swimming. Not so good in that our balcony overlooked the parking lot which really wasn't that big of a deal for me.

After getting our stuff inside we decided to get something to eat. Since we had no idea where anything was we thought we would go to Publix. DH thought it was like our local Hy-Vee which has a nice hot food deli with a Chinese and Italian station. It wasn't so we left. We drove around and found Pearl's Chinese which was on my list of potential restaurants I had saved in TripAdvisor. It was average Chinese except for the General Tso's which was some of the best I ever had.







Oh my...I didn't get a photo of the General's Chicken. Sorry.

DH got this in his fortune cookie....which is appropriate as he is a bit of a workaholic and has trouble finding time for fun.




We found our way back to the Publix and got groceries to make it through the week. We then hit the hay for our big day at IoA. We had plans to make it at opening. Did we make it? How many times will we make it at opening this week?
 
I am loving your trip report-especially all the pics!! Thanks so much!! We are leaving in less than a week and I am so stealing your "beginning of trip pic" idea! I might have to include the arrival pic, too, after 20 hours in the car with 5 kids!! Haha! Keep up the awesome report!! :thumbsup2
 
Thanks for the great TR. We leave in 1 month and 2 days.:cool1: I'm getting so excited for our trip reading about yours. I got inspired to make our ressie for Mythos thru open table just now while reading. Can't wait to hear about your favorite dining experiences.

We will be flying from California, but your great idea for music and book cds makes me feel like we will be missing out on part of the fun. The suspense is killing me. Did you get the whole family out early for opening? That is my biggest worry. We are staying on property so we should get in an hour early, but getting everyone out the door in the morning is near impossible plus we are starting out with a 3 hours time change. I'm thinking about making everyone get up at 3am for the last 3 days before the trip to prepare. Is that over the top? I never can tell.
 


I am loving your trip report-especially all the pics!! Thanks so much!! We are leaving in less than a week and I am so stealing your "beginning of trip pic" idea! I might have to include the arrival pic, too, after 20 hours in the car with 5 kids!! Haha! Keep up the awesome report!! :thumbsup2


Glad you like my idea. Now I am motivated to get this done before you leave. I cam back with a lot of tips which seem to be somewhat limited on this section of DISboards.

Thanks for the great TR. We leave in 1 month and 2 days.:cool1: I'm getting so excited for our trip reading about yours. I got inspired to make our ressie for Mythos thru open table just now while reading. Can't wait to hear about your favorite dining experiences.

We will be flying from California, but your great idea for music and book cds makes me feel like we will be missing out on part of the fun. The suspense is killing me. Did you get the whole family out early for opening? That is my biggest worry. We are staying on property so we should get in an hour early, but getting everyone out the door in the morning is near impossible plus we are starting out with a 3 hours time change. I'm thinking about making everyone get up at 3am for the last 3 days before the trip to prepare. Is that over the top? I never can tell.

Oh, I think your family will shoot you if you wake them up at 3 am. I bet they will be excited and wake up but it also depends on the ages of your kids and how excited they are to be there. Of course with the time change I know it makes it hard.
 
We leave on Saturday, and I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of your trip report. I've really enjoyed it so far! :)
 
Just a quickie update before I have to take a child to a music lesson:

First I forgot this picture. DD12 bought her first souvenir at Pearl's. A ring for $5.


Ok, on to the morning....

YES! We did make it to opening. We arrived at about 8:25 for the 9 am opening. By the time we parked here:



We made it here



with just enough time to run to the restroom before they let everyone in at about 8:45.

And our adventure began. Do you know how I know our adventure began????? Well lets just say there was an obvious sign from above.



:rotfl2: Yeah, I crack myself up.
 
Nancy, enjoying your TR. I saw some of your food pics on the other forum, and I love the way your family does the "ta da!" with their hands. (Same as with the Chinese.):teeth: Very cute.

Keep it coming!
 
Nancy, enjoying your TR. I saw some of your food pics on the other forum, and I love the way your family does the "ta da!" with their hands. (Same as with the Chinese.):teeth: Very cute.

Keep it coming!

DH started doing that on our 2009 Disney Trip for Two. I think I have a link in my signature. Unfortunately we didn't get to do it for all the food photos. :guilty:
 
Of course we head straight to Hogsmead. DS leads the way as he has been here before. We don't stop to look at things although it is quite tempting. We get to Hogwarts which has posted a 30 minute wait time...or maybe it was 45. No it was 30. DS is amazed because he had about 120 min wait when he came during spring break a couple of years ago.



Here are photos of the queue:










The queue was indeed AMAZING! As a matter of fact I was disappointed about how fast went because there is so much detail and I didn't have a chance to absorb it all.

The 4 of do Forbidden Journey. DD12 wants to work her way up to this ride. DS was being a typical big bro before we left and told her how scary it was. I must say I was a little worried myself. I had expected to have the sensation of Dementors sucking my soul. :scared1: Well, it wasn't as scary as everyone had made it sound. It was a super cool ride and I loved feeling like I was on the Quidich field. :woohoo:

Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff which was one coaster that DD12 was willing to do. We had about a 15 minute wait. It was a fun but very quick little coaster.



After Flight of the Hippogriff, DD19, DS and DH do Dueling Dragons. I don't like coasters where my feet dangle. I don't think they had much of a wait.

Then it is time for butter beer. I know from reading Dis that it is best to go into The Hogshead to get it as the lines are shorter and they were. :thumbsup2



Sorry, I know it is not the best picture.



DD12 who is the only soda/ sweet beverage drinker in the family doesn't like butter beer so we get her a $6 :-)scared1:)bottle of pumpkin juice from Honeydukes.



I look at the sweet counter. I must say I was a little disappointed. I expected something like the counter at French pavilion in Epcot but Honeydukes is very small with just a couple of pastries. I did ask how much the pumpkin tart was and it was only $2.95 so I was sold! :thumbsup2



It is starting to get crowded. I am guessing it was around 10:45. We head to Jurassic Park. Here is a photo of Hogwarts as we leave.

 
Great pics, I can hardly wait to get there myself.:woohoo: My only problem with the FJ queue is that they won't let me go *touch* everything!!!:hyper:
 
At Jurassic Park we do the river ride. We couldn't see the drop from where got on and were concerned about how wet we would get. DD12 was concerned about the dip although she had watched the video on youtube and thought she could handle it. Well we did get wetter than we had anticipated and the dip was bigger than DD would have liked but she managed although this was her last time for this attraction for the trip. :sad2:

We then decide we are hungry. I had originally planned on doing Three Broomsticks for lunch but we decided on Thunder Falls. DH knew that he could get some vegan options there something that is lacking at Three Broomsticks.

DS had the ribs.



DD12 had the turkey leg





DD19 wanted the kids mac and cheese



DH got the black beans, rice, potatoes and a side salad. I still wasn't hungry from my pumpkin tart and I knew DD12 would not eat all of hers so I just got a side of black beans and rice.



After this we head over to the cartoon section.

I like Beetle Baily. The creator of this cartoon when the same university as me. You probably can't guess which university that is by looking at the above photo :thumbsup2





We then do Spiderman with about a 30 min wait.





I really liked Spiderman. DD12 liked it too. It had no dips. :thumbsup2

After Spidie DH, DD19 and DS head over to The Hulk which had about a 30 minute wait as well. There was no way I was going to ride that thing. :scared:

DD12 and I do the x-men spin ride. I conclude that spinning is more fun when inside a teacup.



Everyone really liked The Hulk including DD19 who normally doesn't like the larger coasters too much. She has a fear of heights but since it rockets you out of there you really are not high for too long. It is the slowly going to the top that gets her. Will they convince me to ride it?????

The park is getting hot and crowded so we decide to head back to the condo for a break.:wave2:
 
After the very long walk back to our car and the very quick 10 min drive back to our condo we go for a relaxing swim at the condo. Sorry no pics. You're just going to have to trust me that this is what we did. I think we just ate leftover Pearl's for dinner as I have no food pics either.


I think we head back to the parks at around 5:30. We decide to check out the US side of things.




We all agree we want to do ET. No dips for DD12 although she is a little nervous. I tell her it is just like Peter Pan. She claims Peter Pan had a dip. :faint:

The queue is dark so pictures did not turn out well. This is the best I was able to get. It said there was a 30 minute wait and it turned out to be a bit longer. :(



They also say you can't take photos while on the ride which most of the rides have this policy. I am beginning to understand why the Universal trip reports do not have many photos. I find that most of the queues are difficult to take photos and even rides that would normally be easy to photograph they say no photography. :mad:

DD12 decides that she likes the ride. :thumbsup2 As a matter of fact this turns out to be one of her favorites.

Next up is Men in Black because it is a ride that we knew we would all like. I must say I did like it but Buzz Lightyear is still preferred. I even like Buzz more than Toy Story Mania. The spinning was better but the items you were shooting were not. Just my opinion and I know a lot of people would disagree with me regarding TSM vs Buzz. I don't think we had a wait on this ride.

After this we see Transformers has a 60 minute wait. I had been reading it is usually 90 so we decide to go for it. It does have a decent queue. I think we end up waiting about 50 minutes. It moves quickly. I will say by the time we were done the wait was down to 45.



The kids really liked it. I must say it was very similar to Spiderman with different action heros. I must say that I preferred Spiderman. I felt like I just had metal being thrown at me in Transformers. There is at least a better variety of the type of characters in Spiderman.

After this we see The Mummy has a 5 minute wait. No way DD12 is going to do this one. I also had her watch a youtube video. We run through the very long and empty queue and walk on the ride.

We love love love The Mummy!!! Great effects and a fun coaster. I am glad I didn't watch the video. I liked the surprises in the coaster. I won't give away any spoilers but this was without a doubt one of favorite rides not just for this trip but this would include WDW and any other parks we have experienced. :thumbsup2

DD12 and DH had fun in the gift shop while we were on the ride.





Of course DS and DD19 want to ride it again so DH gets to ride with them.

I discover these in the gift shop.



Yes they are really crickets and yes it appears that their primary function is to be eaten. :sick:

Also in The Mummy gift shop:


It is getting close to closing. We are tired so we head out. We decide not to stay for the Cinematic Spectacular. After all it is only our first day we will have plenty of time to get that in. DS was also disappointed that we did not get to ride Rip Rocket but he knows we will be back.

Sorry, another bad pic but this was the best one I got of this iconic symbol.



One thing I would like to note is that I used Undercover Tourist's crowd calendar. This was a level 6 day with both US and IoA listed as green days. (I just noticed that the website now has it as a level 7 day.) I will have to say that it was the least busy of any of the days we attended.

The big question I am leaving you with is...Will we make it to opening the second day???
 
Thanks for adding that about the UT app. I have been watching it lately, trying to see the patterns...good to know you found it dependable. Looks like everyone had fun. :) Mummy sounds way too creepy for my crew, I won't even get the movie...but I love those bead thingies from the gift shop!
 
Thanks for adding that about the UT app. I have been watching it lately, trying to see the patterns...good to know you found it dependable. Looks like everyone had fun. :) Mummy sounds way too creepy for my crew, I won't even get the movie...but I love those bead thingies from the gift shop!

Oh no...don't get the app. I meant to say something about that. I was referring to the crowd calendar on the website. I did do the app but it was completely inaccurate. It didn't even have all the correct rides on the US side. It still hadn't updated Despicable Me along with another which I can't remember. I think Jaws. Anyway there were two attractions that no longer existed and it was never ever accurate. Another thing I was disappointed in was that someone on Dis said there were wait times posted throughout the park. Well I think I saw them one time the entire trip. :confused3

Anyway...you should really give The Mummy a chance. Are you able to manage EE? I would say The Mummy is closer to EE without the height.
 

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