"I don't have to be nice to you, this isn't Disney World" report-Mythos 7/9

[t-and-a]

Great TR! I'm glad you got some pics up now. Can't wait for more!

 

[RAPstar]

Great TR. Getting me excited for my trip!

 

[Nicole786]

Awesome first day!! What did you think of all the theming?? Im curious as youve never been there before (PS: Is there such a thing as a proud darkish blonde-head?? I love the redhead tags guys, awesome! lol)

 

[macraven]

nicole, half of us redheads are blondes



hedly, did you notice that seuss land is true to form?
there is not one straight line in that section.

even the trees are not straight.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great update! I especially like the pics because I've never been there before. The room looks great too!

 

[Hedy]

It was about 7:15 now, and decided to head toward Mythos. I was really looking forward to eating at Mythos. I got there, and there was a wait. I informed the hostess I was alone. I waited. And waited. I knew I was the last seating, but I wasn't sweating it. The family next to me, however, was flipping that they had to wait, and they had a priority seating. They were seated. I was seated around 7:45. Now, I know that I was the last seating of the day, it was the Fourth of July, and I was a solo. However, I felt the service was really poor. I sat for a while, and my waitress came over and asked "Can I get you anything?" Good evening and a happy Fourth to you, too. I asked for a potion of the gods. She carded me. She broght it to me. "What do you want?" "What are your specials?" "We have a beef tip risotto, and a pulled pork flatbread." Maybe I'm becoming a crotchety old woman, but I would think a server should offer up the specials without prodding. I ordered the tomato flatbread. The waitress brought my bread-it and my drink were good. Complaining family was next to me, and getting as bad service as I was. She brought my flatbread. Now I love mozzarella and tomato, but the cheese was low quality, and the basil was scarce. Meh. She disappeared for a while. When she returned, she asked "Anything else?" Once again, the pattern of me almost needing to interpret continued. "I'd like the gooey banana cake, please." It came. It looked pretty (I was so not into this meal at this point I wasn't doing food porn pics). The cake was part warm, part cold. The peanut butter ice cream was full of ice crystals. Yuck. I was too tired to dispute my bill, so I paid (I did really like getting a discount with my AAA card at so many places). Then the final moment happened-I was entitled to a glass because of my drink. "Do i just take this glass?" "Oh, no, I'll get you a boxed one..." The service was poor, more inadequate than bad. But between that and the food, I don't think I'll return to Mythos, and I'm kind of scratching my head as to its reputation.

I strolled around IoA-it's a beautiful park. Strolling through Jurassic Park at night was cool with the growling. I gazed at Dudley Do right again, decided not to chance it. I did ride Spiderman again. I'd thought about heading over to Universal for Universal 360, but was not in a crowd mood. So I headed back to the hotel. Citywalk was packed, the NBA place was doing something with the basket outside. As I walked along, I found they were playing the 360 music and we could see part of the fireworks by the Universal globe. I headed back to my hotel. I passed the rickshaws, but didn't have tip money. I found the walk back to HRH in the dark not too well marked, in the future I'd take a rickshaw or water taxi.

 

[Hedy]

nicole, half of us redheads are blondes



hedly, did you notice that seuss land is true to form?
there is not one straight line in that section.

even the trees are not straight.

I did indeed, Mac. I was amazed.

Awesome first day!! What did you think of all the theming?? Im curious as youve never been there before (PS: Is there such a thing as a proud darkish blonde-head?? I love the redhead tags guys, awesome! lol)

I was surprised how each Island was so self contained, it really kept with the theming.

Great TR! I'm glad you got some pics up now. Can't wait for more!

Blame Photobucket.

 

[Hedy]

The next morning I got up, packed/organized things into check out mode (I opted not to bring my wine with me-pity, would have been nice at the Hyatt that night). I checked out, stored my bags, and headed to IoA. I rode Spiderman (I was in the front rather than the back-I, personally, like the front better) and Popeye. I was on Popeye with a nice British family, and one point the mom ducked under her tween to keep dry-LOL. It was around 9:45, and I had to check in for my flight at 10:10, so I strolled over to Cinnabon and had a snack while waiting for check in time. I checked in on my phone (A54 ) and decided I was good with IoA, so I crossed over to Universal. I really like how easy it is to park hop there. I headed straight for the Animal show. When the animals come out at the beginning, the woman behind me exclaimed "Oh my god, how do you train a cat!" Having two cats, I lolled. The show was cool, but I don't like birds, and there were too many flying close to me. I then decided to head to Disaster. We got in, and there was a huge family next to me who wanted to get in the show. Kiddo was cast as screaming kid. Mom went with. They then proceeded to scream and jump for every flipping role. Grandpa got cast in the closed shoes role. The thing with Christopher Walken and the TM was cool. We did the rest of the pre-show and headed onto our subway car. I think it was the exact same Earthquake ride, it was fun, though. I headed over to Twister-it was a nice attraction, but given all the tornadoes in the news these days, it seemed like kind of a messed up attraction/thrill. I went to ride the Mummy, but I couldn't get the dang lockers to work, so I gave up. I grabbed a funnel cake in Amity, and headed over to MIB. I finally got a locker to work, but when it opened, it was full of HRH toiletries-no bag, just toiletries. Who does that? I went to MIB. I remembered to hit the red button this time. My score was around 100,000. I had thought I might head over to the Mummy, but that walk sans sunglasses was not going to happen. I could not get my locker open-I think the sweat+sunscreen was too much. A great TM helped me. He checked a photo id in my wallet to ensure I was me-so if you think you might have that problem, don't put your license on your lanyard. I actually e-mailed Universal about my experience and got an e-mail from them thanking me for letting them know.

I took a break and had a frozen Coke by the Simpsons.

I headed down to Hollywood and saw Terminator-it was really cool, but I kept on lifting off my glasses to see what was real. I saw Shrek again. I stopped at the sounviner store and got myself a Fiona pen on my way out. I browsed in the citywalk shops. I had been thinking I'd grab dinner at Citywalk, but after experiencing a lot of boredom while looking at the menu, I decided to try the Kitchen. I stood in line for the watertaxi. We arrived, and I headed over to the kitchen. Menu looked good-they were advertising a character meal, but they weren't crowded. My waiter, Anthony, was exceptional. I had a great pasta primavera, electric lemonade, and a key lime tart. I also met Bart Simpson, who kissed my hand. I told him he was acting gentlemanly. I spent sometime looking at the pool and checking out the arcade (didn't seem as big as I've seen other Orlando arcades be). On my way to the lobby, I passed a couple-the guy yelled out "I just got married!" I thought it was cute.

 

[RAPstar]

Great TR, Hedy!! I love the pics of the HRH. Gives me even more reason to saty there (One day!!!).

 

[clint999]

Good job Heather. Have fun.

 

[GinaBean]

I have a couple of questions, as I have never been to UO/IOA:

What is odd about the ET ride? Are you actually sitting on bikes & do they go up in the air?

What was scary about the Shrek ride?

If you don't want to give out spoilers, you could PM me.

Thanks

 

[Hedy]

I have a couple of questions, as I have never been to UO/IOA:

What is odd about the ET ride? Are you actually sitting on bikes & do they go up in the air?

What was scary about the Shrek ride?

If you don't want to give out spoilers, you could PM me.

Thanks

You know at WDW, you're on those "flying" things? On ET you're on a long, flat one of those, sitting on a "bike"-not comfortable. You also see ET's friends having a...festival? They're kind of funny looking.

Shrek's preshow is kind of dark (Farquad is beck from the dead and torturing the storybook characters). There's a big scene with spiders (3-D, plus they puff in air) in a creepy forrest. If you're taking kids, I'd preview it on Youtube.

 

[Hedy]

I got my stuff, and waited for Mears. The shuttle pulled up...I was the only one in it. I asked if the driver could take me to Terminal B, even though my fake flight was in terminal A. He could. I think Mears has a bad rep-I was very pleased with both transfers I had. I enjoyed the ride to MCO-good grief, Orlando has a lot of hotels. We passed some amusing billboards-there was one for Cracker Barrel that said "Fresh greens. Coming up daily." Um, ok. There was also a huge one for vasectomies-I thought it was funny it was going towards MCO. I got dropped off, but I had a mission at the Earport before I checked into the Hyatt. I got my nephews each an autograph book. I headed off to the Hyatt. I had a king room, they advised I leave at least 90 minutes between my check out and my flight in the morning. I had one of those rooms with the balcony overlooking the terminal. I liked the Hyatt.

Next morning, I checked out, went to check my baggage on SWA, and headed home.

Final thoughts:
I'm glad I took this trip, both for the personal reasons and because I had fun. I had been slightly worried I wouldn't have fun, or get hurt, but I had a great time. I'd also been worried that not having a car would be a problem, but it wasn't; however, I think next trip I'll rent a car so I can do Citywalk my last night and stay offsite rather than the airport.

In short, if you're a Disney person who wants to try the darkside, do it.

 

[karatepamy]

True, Universal doesn't have a shuttle to and from the airport, but there is a free shuttle and free water taxi from the hotel to the parks.

 

[karatepamy]

did you know that some of the trees in seuss landing are from miami? when hurricane andrew blew through miami, it caused the trees to become disformed. universal orlando was lucky enough to get some of those trees for the theming of this particular island. did you also know that dr. seuss' widow has to approve everything that is placed in seuss landing?

 

[LITTLEKID58]